c. 1997 Religion News Service
Liberty University has “new lease on life” following debt reduction
(RNS) Liberty University has a “new lease on life” following a dramatic reduction in the school’s debts, according to a spokesman for Jerry Falwell, the school’s chancellor.
Mark DeMoss, Falwell’s spokesman, said an anonymous donor he described as a “Christian businessman” prompted the turn of events for the school in Lynchburg, Va.
“An anonymous donor purchased all of the outstanding bonds … that collectively comprised the lion’s share of Liberty’s debt and it totaled $27 million roughly of debt that was purchased outright and then the bonds were donated to the university,” DeMoss told Religion News Service Thursday (Oct. 16).
So the university, whose debts had reached a high of about $110 million in 1991, now has a debt of just $10 million.
“It was a huge step for the university,” DeMoss said. “The debt has gone from a position of putting the school in a precarious situation to really quite a stable situation. It’s a manageable debt load now.”
DeMoss said the change in the financial situation has provided an emotional boost for the school.
“It’s more of an emotional lift for the school, really a new lease on life,” he said.
Prior to the removal of the $27 million in debt, the anonymous donor “struck a deal independent of Liberty” with bondholders that allowed them to receive 83.5 cents on the dollar, DeMoss said. After purchasing the bonds, the donor, in turn, donated the bonds to Liberty in August.
Much of the debt was traced to a lack of confidence in religious broadcasters after the television ministry scandals of the late 1980s. The “Old Time Gospel Hour,” Falwell’s television program, had been a major benefactor to the school.
As it lost a great deal of its debt, the university gained a new president. The school’s board voted in September to name John M. Borek president. Borek served as interim president for several months prior to his new appointment.
Liberty has about 5,400 students on campus and close to 9,000 more in external programs.
Bermuda AME pastor defrocked after sexual assault conviction
(RNS) An African Methodist Episcopal minister who was convicted in a Bermuda court of sexual assault has become the first clergy member in his denomination to be defrocked under its new sexual misconduct policy.
The former Rev. Trevor Woolridge, who also is a member of Bermuda’s Parliament, was convicted in Magistrate’s Court Oct. 1. A judge made the ruling after he heard details of the assault that occurred at the home of a female parishioner of Woolridge’s church in September 1996.
On a later date, the woman taped a conversation she had with Woolridge in his car. The pair were on their way to the airport and talked about going to Philadelphia for “three days of sex.”
Woolridge, who will turn 41 on Oct. 22, said during his trial he did not recognize the voice of the man speaking on the tape. He also said the pair were going to Philadelphia so he could get her a job.
Woolridge is appealing the conviction to Bermuda’s Supreme Court and sentencing has been delayed until after the appeal is heard. If he is sentenced to longer than 12 months, he will have to relinquish his seat in Parliament. No court date has been set for the appeal.
Woolridge was stripped of his minister’s credentials Oct. 9 at a meeting of clergy chaired by Bishop Philip Cousin, presiding elder of the AME Church’s First Episcopal District.
Cousin would not comment on the decision except to say, “I am going to do what the church expects and requires me to do.”
On the advice of his lawyer, Woolridge, who was planning on running for bishop of the AME Church at the next denominational election, would not comment.
The church’s decision requires him to move out of the parsonage of Mount Zion AME Church in Southampton, where he has served since 1994 in his first assignment as a full-time pastor.
The Rev. Cecil Howard, general secretary of the AME Church, said Thursday (Oct. 16) the church officials’ decision is “precedent-setting” because Woolridge is the first AME minister to lose his license since the denomination adopted a formal policy on sexual misconduct of ministers at its quadrennial conference in Louisville, Ky., last year.
The AME Manual on Sexual Misconduct, which is now part of the Doctrine and Discipline of the AME Church, says AME ministers “occupy positions of sacred trust. That trust, if misused, violates the body of Christ and impugns the integrity of the Gospel. Clergy sexual misconduct is an especially egregious violation of a sacred trust and is, therefore, absolutely unacceptable in the church and will not be tolerated.”
Even though he is appealing his conviction, the church moved to take away his license based on comments he made the tape played at his trial.
New viewer’s choice awards focus on Christian market
(RNS) A new “viewer’s choice” awards program focusing on the Christian marketplace will premiere next February.
The first annual WoW Inspirational Awards are the result of a partnership between the Inspirational Network, a cable television network based in Charlotte, N.C., and WoW 1998, an alliance of distributors and promoters of Christian music.
The WoW 1998 Inspirational Awards will honor artists, authors, athletes and others who viewers determine have greatly influenced the Christian marketplace in 1997. The first event will air live Feb. 1 on the network from Hylton Chapel in Woodbridge, Va.
“While there are some outstanding awards programs honoring theatrical, film, television and music excellence, no major forum exists for consumers to pay tribute to the authors, musicians, songs and other people and products that have been important in the inspirational market,” said David Cerullo, president and CEO of The Inspirational Network.
“This is a multibillion dollar market with an incredible array of talent expressed in diverse ways.”
The public will vote on a list of nominees in various ways, including on the Internet (http://www.insp.org.), through the mail, via telephone and at participating locations and through magazine advertisements. Balloting will run from mid-October through Jan. 5.
Nominees will be in categories for contemporary Christian, black gospel, Southern gospel and Christian rock/alternative music as well as nonfiction and fiction books and television and radio ministries. Other categories will include children’s products, Bible translations and sports figures.
The partners in the WoW 1998 alliance are three Christian music labels EMI Christian Music Group, Provident Music Group and Word Entertainment along with Parable Christian Stores and Power & Glory, the Christian music division of Columbia House.
The three music labels have produced best-selling WoW 96 and WoW 97 recordings featuring the year’s 30 top contemporary Christian music songs and artists.
Methodist group wants church judicial ruling on gay, lesbian unions
(RNS) Affirmation, the unofficial caucus of United Methodists for gay and lesbian concerns, wants the denomination’s Judicial Council the church’s Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of a churchwide ban on ceremonies celebrating homosexual unions.
In 1996, the church’s General Conference its top policy-making body added a sentence to the denomination’s Social Principles saying that “ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches.”
The 20-member national board of Affirmation, which met in Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 11-13, said it had adopted a resolution asking the church’s Council of Bishops to request of the Judicial Council a declaratory decision on the “meaning, application and constitutionality” of the ban.
The first challenge to the ban which could over time work its way through the church’s disciplinary process to the Judicial Council came in September when the Rev. Jimmy Creech, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Neb., performed a service of union for two lesbian members of his congregation.
A complaint filed against Creech by a member of his congregation is in the process of being investigated by Bishop Joel Martinez and other Nebraska officials of the United Methodist Church.
In a statement released by Affirmation, the group’s spokeswoman, Jeanne G. Knepper, said the ban adopted in 1996 is “unclear, unconstitutional and unenforceable. In addition, it is unjust and denies vital ministry to some members of the church.”
A key issue is the legal status of the Social Principles within the church. The denomination has two general code books the Book of Discipline, which sets forth church rules and law, and the Social Principles, which sets forth less legalistic guidelines on a host of topics.
“If the church waits for appeals on the cases of Rev. Creech or others to take the ban before the Judicial Council, it will be choosing the path of greatest cost in money and time lost, confusion, ecclesiastical conflict, injustice and negative media attention,” Affirmation said.
The Council of Bishops will next meet in the first week of November and the first meeting of the Judicial Council after the bishops meet will be in April.
Quote of the Day: Day of Atonement participant Jeffrey Miller
(RNS) “I recognize it as a unity day, a day when we all come together. … It’s the kind of unity the black men never had.”
Jeffrey Miller, 33, of New Carrollton, Md., quoted in The Washington Post about how he requested a day off five months in advance for the Oct. 16 “Day of Atonement,” marking the second anniversary of the Million Man March.
END RNS
