c. 2007 Religion News Service
Assemblies of God Elect New Leader
(RNS) The Assemblies of God have elected a veteran church executive as the new leader of the Pentecostal denomination.
The Rev. George O. Wood, general secretary of the Assemblies of God since 1993, was elected general superintendent Friday (Aug. 10) during the denomination’s biennial General Council in Indianapolis.
Wood, 65, succeeds the Rev. Thomas Trask, who announced in July that he would leave the position two years into what was to be a four-year term. Trask had served as general superintendent since 1993.
The son of missionaries, Wood served as a pastor and assistant superintendent of the denomination’s Southern California District before moving to the national headquarters in Springfield, Mo. Wood also is an attorney and the author of seven books.
The denomination, which has 2.8 million members in the United States, has seen its worldwide membership grow from 25 million in 1993 _ the year both Trask and Wood became executives _ to a current total of about 57 million.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Progressive Baptists Call For Protests of Demeaning Lyrics
WASHINGTON (RNS) Delegates to the annual meeting of the Progressive National Baptist Convention have called for protests of music lyrics demeaning to women and minorities.
“We are speaking out publicly against the denigration of women, minorities and the kind of self-hatred that is often perpetuated by bad language and bad music,” said the Rev. T. DeWitt Smith Jr., president of the historically black denomination. “Our youth department, in particular, has asked us not to patronize the rappers that use language that denigrate our people and others.”
The Rev. Otis Moss Jr., a Cleveland pastor and outgoing chair of the denomination’s Civil Rights Commission, said the concern about “inhumane communication” is not new for the denomination, but “it has reached a special kind of crescendo in recent times with Don Imus.”
Imus lost his job as a radio talk show host in the spring after using slurs about the women’s basketball team at Rutgers University.
The 2.5 million-member denomination also added its voice to other religious groups calling for a commitment to address climate change.
“The issue of global warming is a very serious one and we know that we are to be good stewards of all of the Earth’s resources,” said Smith, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church of Metro Atlanta. “We were placed here by God to be caretakers and therefore we are concerned about global warming and will do all that we can to help in the situation rather than to hurt.”
Delegates also passed resolutions addressing issues such as support of gun control, fighting poverty and the denomination’s continued opposition to the Iraq war.
“We still believe … that our troops really do need to come home from Iraq and we’re asking our president and Congress to move with all deliberate haste to bring them home,” Smith said.
About 6,000 delegates attended the denomination’s Annual Session, which ends Saturday (Aug. 11).
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio
(RNS) “All I can say is keep those contributions coming and you’ll have the president you want.”
_ Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, speaking at a forum Thursday (Aug. 9) for Democratic presidential candidates that was devoted to gay rights issues. Kucinich was responding to a question about whether there were any issues where he disagreed with the gay community.
DSB/LF END RNS
