SBTC Removes Pastor Over Homosexuality Controversy
According to Jerry Pierce, Managing Editor for the SBTC Texan, their executive board has acted unanimously to disaffiliate a church for violating the convention’s constitutional provision concerning churches that “affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior.”I
n a report written by the Minister/Church Relations Director Deron Biles, he and another staff member, along with the SBTC credentials committee, met Dec. 20 for one hour and 45 minutes with the pastor of Faith Harbour, Randy Haney, with a “redemptive aim” according to Matthew 18.
Biles recounted that the committee hoped to clarify Faith Harbour’s stance toward a church it is helping sponsor and allowing to meet in its facilities, which bills itself on its website as welcoming and affirming of homosexual, bisexual and trangendered people. Allegedly, the new “church”, Eklektos, has a female senior pastor [Wendy Bailey]. By the way, you can read Wendy Bailey's blog on the incident.
Please read the Baptist Press story here:
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22464
Geez. [sniff. sniff.] I think there's more to this story than meets the eye.
Why? Because I personally know the guy. Randy Haney, pastor at Faith Harbour in Baytown, is a 'conservative emergent'-type who wholeheartedly believes the act of homosexual sex is wrong. When I talked with Randy on the phone last night, he told me "if I didn't think homosexuality was wrong, I wouldn't be involved with this ministry! My goal is to take the redemptive gospel to the gay and lesbian community, that they know that God has a better plan for them."
So?.....What's the deal? I'm not sure at this point. Having known Randy over 15 years, and also having known the inner workings of convention life, I know that there's more to this than BP is telling us. We'll see how this develops...
posted by Unknown @ 8:19 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Wow. I read the article and also Wendy's blog and what Randy wrote on the Harbour blog. From what I read, it sounds like his perspective and mine are in the same neighborhood. It may not be the same house, but it's certainly the same street.
So I guess the only acceptable way to reach out to this group is to whack them across the face with the Bible, tell them how wrong they are, and by the way, Jesus loves you?
The perspective appears to be that either a sinner needs to clean themselves up before they can become a Christian, or we are responsible for making sure sinners are nice and respectable before they can be Christians. Silly me. All along I thought it was God who transformed people. And we were supposed to come alongside him and be Jesus' body. That alone has always been a daunting and humbling expectation for me.
I better go back and read the fine print. If you have to be all shiny and clean to join the club, I don't qualify.
Of course, I've personally experienced how Christians can treat each other. It was long ago, but it hurts any time I see it happen again.
From everything I can tell, he did nothing wrong except have a heart for people who need light. I'll be praying for him.
Oddly enough, I read a quote from Emerging Churches that seems to fit this. It's by Joe Boyd (Apex, Las Vegas).
"You have to love them first. You can't serve people whom you can't love."
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