South Carolina Baptist ministry in a post-marriage culture will be the subject of a free, live website event on Thursday, Aug. 13, from 2-3:15 p.m. Viewers can watch the live event through the South Carolina Baptist Convention website at www.scbaptist.org.
Leading the live panel conversation from the convention building in Columbia will be pastors, attorneys, and leaders within the Southern Baptist Convention, including:
- Will Browning, lead pastor, Journey Church, Summerville, S.C., who will serve as the moderator;
- Jeff Iorg, president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in San Francisco;
- Marshall Blalock, senior pastor, First Baptist Church, Charleston;
- Tony Beam, vice president of North Greenville University and chairman of the SCBC Christian Life and Public Affairs Committee;
- Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom of Kansas City; and,
- Reese Boyd, attorney, chairman of the Palmetto Family Council, and a member of First Baptist Church of Murrells Inlet.
Iorg, other Golden Gate faculty, and guests have created a new book, “Ministry in the New Marriage Culture,” which will be available this fall.
Due to time constraints, viewers will not be able to submit questions during the event but are invited to submit questions prior to the event by sending them to markhendrick@scbaptist.org. Due to space limitations, public viewing at the convention building will not be possible.
Mark Hendrick, associate director of the Office of Public Policy for the state convention, said the event’s content will cover both legal issues facing churches and how churches can minister within the new post-marriage culture.
Topics the panel will discuss may include:
- Evangelism among those with same-sex attractions;
- How to avoid the alienation of homosexuals;
- Issues related to church membership;
- Issues related to facility use, wedding policies, and church schools;
- Gender identification issues; and
- ‘What If’ scenarios that may face churches of all sizes, histories, and cultures.
Hendrick said, “As state convention leadership has met with pastors around the state and asked how we can serve churches better, a significant number have asked for help in how to protect their ministries and how to minister in a post-marriage culture.
“In the days leading up to and following the Supreme Court decision regarding same-sex marriage, requests for the same subject matter began to multiply. We identified this as an area where we can provide some insight and guidance to help equip the churches to address these issues.”
Hendrick said his office works closely with the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention which has created a post-marriage culture resource center on its website. For more information, visit www.erlc.com. Hendrick may be contacted at the South Carolina Baptist Convention Building in Columbia at (803) 227-6105 or toll-free in South Carolina at (800) 723-7242.