Broadway Baptist Postpones Directory Decision

From Sam Hodges of the Dallas Morning-News....

A prominent Fort Worth church continues to struggle with how to handle photographs of gay members in a pictorial directory that's to be part of its 125th anniversary celebrations.

Broadway Baptist Church has debated whether to include gay couples, or gay people as individuals but not as couples, or whether to omit all individual and family photos.

Members were to vote today, following morning worship. But after meeting for about an hour, they postponed any decision until deacons make a recommendation on Feb. 24.

"We will continue to discuss this issue together as a church family," said Kathy Madeja, deacon chair, in a prepared statement. "We do not want to rush to make a decision, but rather to continue to listen to each other and for God's leading for our church."

Read the rest here.

I hesitate to opine in this post. My mere coverage of The Broadway Controversy resulted in a Texas Baptist pastor comparing Big Daddy Weave to "dung" and accused me of supporting a "preversion of the Gospel."

Apparently slanderers are not the best spellers.

Nonetheless, Broadway's decision to postpone seems smart. Not much good can come of a hasty church-wide vote. However, Broadway is in a lose-lose here. One way or the other this directory controversy won't end well for everyone. And I seriously doubt that one simple vote will solve this matter completely. After receiving so much publicity and attention from inside and outside of the Baptist world, I suspect Broadway will ultimately suffer some degree of fall out from their decision and perhaps a bit of Baptist fighting will ensue....

Bob Allen of EthicsDaily.com has the best coverage of The Broadway Controversy here.