By Bob Allen
A former Baptist camp director who recently pleaded guilty to a federal sex crime formerly worked at Glorieta Conference Center, Associated Baptist Press has learned.
Michael Latham
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A LifeWay Christian Resources spokesman confirmed April 12 that Mike Latham, 46, who faces up to 10 years in prison for sending obscene photos of himself over the Internet to a police officer posing as a 14-year-old girl, worked in sales and marketing at Glorieta and terminated employment in 2004. Marty King, director of corporate communications for the Southern Baptist Convention publisher, said he could not comment about specifics of Latham’s termination because it was a personnel matter.
At the time of his arrest last October, Latham was director of Harris Baptist Conference and Retreat Center, a Southern Baptist campground owned by the Bienville, Concord Union and Webster-Claiborne Baptist associations in northwest Louisiana. Media reports said he worked at the camp about eight years. Newsletters of the associations reported that a new camp manager, Charlie Lechner, took over April 1. A graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Lechner served with the SBC International Mission Board for 15 years.
Located near Santa Fe, N.M., Glorieta is one of two camps owned and managed by LifeWay. The other, Ridgecrest, is in North Carolina. Last fall LifeWay trustees cut back operations at Glorieta to summer-only and said they were looking for ways to dispose of the property, including possible sale, because LifeWay can no longer afford a facility that has been losing money for years. The Baptist Convention of New Mexico responded with a resolution asking LifeWay to keep Glorieta. A Glorieta Study Committee appointed by the state convention scheduled a listening session April 12 for suggestions or ideas about the campground’s future.
Latham’s arrest at the camp near Minden, La., followed a month-long joint investigation by Louisiana State Police and the Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office targeting sexual predators that prey on children. Police said Latham “engaged in numerous sexually oriented conversations online with someone he believed was a 14-year-old female” and sent photos of himself that were inappropriate.