The chair-elect of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists joined 74 other faith leaders and religious and civil-rights organizations in a legal brief filed April 24 supporting a former transgender funeral home employee in Michigan who claimed she was…
New AWAB leader brings non-profit management skills
The new executive director of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists — a network of more than 100 congregations that fully include members regardless of sexual orientation — hopes to lead the 23-year-old organization to be “a catalyst for building and strengthening…
AWAB executive director stepping down
By Bob Allen Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists Executive Director Robin Lunn has resigned her position effective June 30, board chair David Weasley said in an email to members and donors May 5. Lunn, an ordained Baptist minister who…
Baptists seek guidance as same-sex marriage expands
By Jeff Brumley The widening legality of same-sex marriage has ministers and churches across the nation scrambling to respond. And Baptist pastors are right in the thick of what is in some quarters a frantic search for the right theologies…
Seminary grad outs ‘closets’ in Baptist life
By Bob Allen Any honest conversation about homosexuality in the Southern Baptist Convention must acknowledge a “family secret” of clergy who hide their sexual orientation because of stigma associated with same-sex attraction, a gay-rights activist and SBC seminary graduate said…
Pro-gay Baptists welcome same-sex marriage in N.C.
By Bob Allen A 97-church group that advocates LGBT inclusion in Baptist churches welcomed last week’s ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in North Carolina. “I am overjoyed to see another state remove the barriers to our member congregations being able to…
AWAB asks SBC to recant transgender resolution
By Bob Allen A 21-year-old movement advocating full inclusion of gays in Baptist churches voiced concern that a Southern Baptist Convention resolution on transgender identity will spawn methods similar to “ex-gay” ministries harmful to transgender youth. The board and staff…
AWAB head applauds pope’s remarks
By Bob Allen The head of an organization that advocates for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons within Baptist communities of faith welcomed comments by Pope Francis saying the Catholic Church is too focused on gays,…
Sexuality resource updated, released
By Bob Allen The Alliance of Baptists, Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, and Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America teamed up to revise and update a congregational resource on human sexuality first released in 2000. The March 2013 edition…