Brent Beasley was elected May 31 as next pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
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FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — A historic and prominent Texas Baptist church that was subject to a highly publicized controversy last year over homosexuality and other issues agreed May 31 on a new senior pastor.
Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, voted nearly unanimously to hire Brent Beasley, currently pastor of Second Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn., as its 21st senior pastor.
Beasley, 37, a native Texan and 1998 graduate of Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary, moves to a church facing possible ouster from the Southern Baptist Convention over a dispute in 2008 about whether to allow gay members to be photographed together as couples for a church directory.
The flap, which received widespread media coverage, eventually was resolved by publishing the directory, timed to coincide with the church's 125th anniversary, with candid photos of church activities instead of family portraits. But that was after the controversy spilled over into larger questions about leadership of its pastor of nearly seven years, Brett Younger.
Church members voted in March, 2008, to retain Younger as pastor by a 2-1 margin, but he left a month later to become associate professor of preaching at Mercer University's McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta. Younger said at the time he made his decision not because of the controversy but rather out of a long-term desire to teach.
The controversy did prompt, however, a motion at last summer's Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting to declare Broadway Baptist Church not "in friendly cooperation" with the convention. The phrase, the basis for establishing membership in the SBC, is drawn from the denomination's constitutional ban on churches that "act to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior."
The SBC added the requirement in the 1990s to send a message to churches considering ordaining gays to the ministry or blessing same-sex unions in a marriage-type ceremony. Previously it has been applied to congregations that take some formal action, like a vote, toward a pro-gay position, but an SBC Executive Committee work group asked Broadway representatives at a meeting in February to show cause why the church should not be removed from fellowship.
The Executive Committee is expected to make a final recommendation when it meets June 22, just prior to the June 23-24 SBC annual meeting in Louisville, Ky.
Broadway's primary loyalties are to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Baptist General Convention of Texas, but a few active members still teach at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, which requires professors to be members of a Southern Baptist church.
Church leaders acknowledge that a few members are openly gay but say that wasn't widely known when they were voted into membership.
Beasley told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram he believes the church has a bright future and said he looks forward to moving there.
Born in Dallas, Beasley was baptized at First Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas. He met his wife, Heidi, during his freshman year at Baylor. Before moving to Tennessee he was pastor of Spring Valley Baptist Church in Lorena, Texas, and First Baptist Church in Eagle Lake, Texas.
The Beasleys married in 1994 and have two children, Sam, 13, and Ivy, 10. Beasley also holds a doctor of ministry degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.
Previous related ABP stories:
SBC Executive Committee postpones vote on ouster of Broadway Baptist (2/17)
Texas church targeted for ouster from SBC over homosexuality (6/13/2008)
Texas church, mired in controversy over gays in directory, loses pastor (4/18/2008)
Broadway Baptist votes to retain Brett Younger (3/11/2008)