By Bob Allen
President Bill Clinton’s former pastor Rex Horne is stepping down after nine years as president of Ouachita Baptist University.
Horne, who came to the Arkansas Baptist State Convention-affiliated school in Arkadelphia, Ark., in 2006 after 16 years as senior pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, resigned effective this summer to become president of Arkansas’ Independent Colleges & Universities.
“My nine-plus years at Ouachita have been very rewarding,” Horne said. “I have been most impressed by the work performed by our faculty and staff. The sense of calling and commitment to duty has been evident on the campus. Our students are difference makers. I will treasure the time the Lord allowed me to serve here. Our prayers, continued interest and desire to help remain strong.”
Horne’s tenure at Ouachita followed the challenging role of being pastor to a controversial president frequently criticized by leaders in his own denomination.
Clinton joined Immanuel Baptist Church in 1980 and sang in the choir. He credited his longtime pastor W.O. Vaught for his view that the Bible doesn’t forbid abortion because life begins not at conception when the newborn baby takes its first breath.
Horne became pastor at Immanuel in 1990, a year before then-governor Clinton decided to run for president. Demonstrators frequently picketed the church, and leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention said publicly the congregation should “discipline” Clinton as a wayward member because of his policies on abortion and homosexuality.
In 1993 a motion was made at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Houston to “unseat” the church’s 10 messengers for inaction, testing a newly minted amendment to the SBC constitution banning churches which “act to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior.”
A credentials committee questioned messengers from the church for 90 minutes before finding the congregation “in friendly cooperation” with the aims of the convention. Afterward the convention passed a resolution to “separate ourselves” from Clinton’s policies.
Over the years the SBC adopted eight resolutions criticizing Clinton and one expressing appreciation for his leadership following the Oklahoma City bombing tragedy in 1995.
In 1998 Horne read a two-page handwritten letter from Clinton to members of Immanuel Baptist Church repenting of his affair with Monica Lewinsky and asking for their forgiveness.
In his new job Horne will support scholarships, governmental affairs and public affairs on behalf of 11 independent institutions of higher education throughout the state. In addition to Ouachita, member institutions include Arkansas Baptist College, Central Baptist College, Crowley’s Ridge College, Harding University, Hendrix College, John Brown University, Lyon College, Philander Smith College, University of the Ozarks and Williams Baptist College.
“I have known the presidents of our private colleges and universities as friends,” Horne said. “I now have the opportunity to assist them personally and represent them corporately before the public and our legislature. The schools share a foundation of faith. I pray this time will prove beneficial for these friends and their institutions.”
Horne became Ouachita’s 15th president at age 52. He succeeded Andy Westmoreland, who resigned to become president of Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., in June 2006.