By far, the biggest news for Alabama Baptists in 1999 was the defeat of proposed state lottery gambling. Church leaders from different denominations, backgrounds and races worked together in organizing opposition — vowing afterward to use their newfound momentum in addressing other issues such as education reform.
The news wasn’t as good when it came to natural disasters — from a tornado in Mobile to summer flooding in Huntsville. Baptists also responded to the misfortunes of others with relief efforts throughout the world.
Often described as “babies killing babies,” the horror of school shootings continued in 1999. The worst incident came in April when two students in Littleton, Colo., killed 12 classmates and one teacher before taking their own young lives. Another killing spree left seven people dead at a church in Fort Worth, Texas.
America also saw an attack on family values. From gains by the homosexual community to admission of improper behavior by President Clinton, the nation’s morality showed continued signs of weakening.
Here in Alabama, Baptists were successful in defeating an effort to establish state-sponsored lottery gambling.
Gov. Don Siegelman had ended 1998 on a high note following the defeat of Republican incumbent Fob James. Siegelman used the lottery issue to help propel him to victory in the governor’s race. Less than a year later, Siegelman was handed a major defeat Oct. 12 when his call for a lottery was voted down by 54 percent of Alabamians.
Alabama Baptists led the way in defeating lottery gambling.
The vote followed weeks of efforts by the State Board of Missions (SBOM), Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP), the Alabama Family Alliance (AFA) and other groups.
Commenting on the vote, Rick Lance, executive director of the SBOM said, “We resolved to recognize the value of simply telling the truth.
“This was critical since we were outmatched in terms of money and the professionalism of advertisements,” Lance said.
Baptists’ mobilization against the lottery was also cited by Buddy Gray in reflecting on his first year as president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention.
“To see people come together from different races, different denominations and to stand in unity was incredible,” said Gray, pastor of Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover.
The lottery’s defeat followed an earlier victory over video poker in April. The Alabama Senate voted 20-14 against a bill that would have paved the way for legalized video gambling at the state’s four dog tracks.
Still unresolved at year’s end was a lawsuit seeking $300 million in damages that charged leaders of four Christian groups in Alabama of conspiring with Mississippi and Las Vegas casino interests to keep illegal gambling in Greene County.
The allegations were made against ALCAP director Dan Ireland, John Giles of the Alabama Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, Gary Palmer of AFA, and Tom Blackerby of the Alabama Family Association. The charges were brought by the Green County Commission, Greene County Board of Education and Greene Track, Inc., which operates a dog track in Greene County.
Gray was in the news a few weeks later when he was re-elected president at the annual meeting of the state convention Nov. 16–17 in Mobile. Also re-elected were Mike McLemore, pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church, Hoover, first vice president; and John Long, director of missions for Baldwin Association, second vice president.
A hallmark of the meeting was the spirit of cooperation displayed among the Alabama Baptist family.
“So obvious was the unity that several persons commented publicly on the way Alabama Baptists did business and thanked God that the state convention is united in God’s service,” said Bob Terry, editor of The Alabama Baptist.
At the meeting, Alabama Baptists approved a record Cooperative Program (CP) budget of $37 million and a challenge budget of $38 million. Both budgets include almost $1 million more than the 1998 budgets.
The news was not always good, with natural disasters a part of life in 1999.
A series of tornadoes ripped through the South in January, causing major damage to Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, Double Springs. The parsonage and fellowship hall were destroyed, the roof of a storage/restroom facility was blown off and the main church building sustained structural damage.
Responding to Huntsville’s worst flooding in decades, church volunteers helped the more than 150 north Alabama residents whose homes were damaged in July. And October tornado in Mobile caused damage to the steeple and fellowship hall of Gulf Hills Baptist Church.
The Alabama Baptist SBOM sent $10,000 to the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma after tornadoes struck that state in May.
Internationally, the news was no better, and Alabama Baptists showed they were more than willing to help others.
Baptists responded when floods and mudslides devastated Venezuela in December. Thousands were killed and an estimated 200,000 people were left homeless. More than $100,000 was designated for relief efforts, with a team from the International Mission Board traveling to the country to help with relief efforts.
Alabama’s Baptists were among those from Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina and West Virginia who offered assistance after Hurricane Floyd wreaked havoc in the Bahamas in mid-September. Baptists were also diligent in helping victims of other disasters:
- Southern Baptists aided residents of the South American country of Colombia after an earthquake killed 2,000 people in January.
- More than 1,650 Honduran families received food as a result of efforts initiated in May following destruction caused by Hurricane Mitch.
- A relief team traveled to Turkey after an earthquake in August left more than 15,000 people dead.
- Southern Baptists offered aid to residents in Taiwan after an earthquake in September killed thousands and left some 100,000 people homeless.
- Southern Baptists responded in April sending an eight-member task force to Albania to help with the flood of Kosovar refugees.
- Southern Baptist missionaries in Belegrade evacuated from Yugoslavia hours before NATO military forces launched air strikes against the Yugoslav army in March.
A year that saw Baptists attempting to reach the lost nationally and internationally included developments that were both encouraging and disheartening.
Baptists were questioned about the motives with plans to send 100,000 volunteers to Chicago during the summer of 2000. While hoping to share the gospel with all people, Jewish leaders charged Baptists are specifically targeting them.
The controversy further strained relationships with the Jewish community, with Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews calling for an end to relations with Southern Baptists.
Baptists were already busy in 1999 sharing their faith around the world. Teams from Alabama led simultaneous revivals in Hawaii and Guam in September and Spain in November. A group of Alabama Baptists also participated in a crusade in Brazil that resulted in 30,000 professions of faith.
November saw a victory dinner celebrating the culmination of a four-year evangelism effort with Spanish Baptists.
Baptists used June’s meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in Atlanta for evangelism efforts. Youth from Alabama churches were among 1,500 to 2,000 volunteers who participated in “Crossover ’99,” an evangelistic sweep of the city.
Paige Patterson was re-elected to a second one-year term as SBC president, calling for 1 million baptisms worldwide by September 2000. The convention approved a $159,583,743 Cooperative Program budget for 1999-2000.
Franklin Graham, son of legendary evangelist Billy Graham, visited the state in May. Graham spoke at a three-day crusade in Tuscaloosa attended by more than 50,000 people.
The year also brought welcome news concerning Christians’ rights in expressing their faith and practicing freedom of speech.
The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered U.S. District Judge Ira DeMent in July to rewrite part of his 1997 injunction against school-sponsored religious activities, it allowed students the choice of using religious language in public addresses.
The news elsewhere wasn’t as welcome.
Activities surrounding observance of “See You at the Pole” ended in tragedy Sept. 15 when a gunman opened fire on 200 people at Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. The shooter, Larry Gene Ashbrook, killed seven people before committing suicide.
The deadliest in a series of school shootings occurred in April when two students killed 12 classmates and one teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.
The students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, killed themselves following the massacre, which left dozens of other students wounded.
The climate of violence wasn’t confined to schools and churches. A white supremacist, Benjamin Nathaniel Smith, 21, killed two people and wounded nine other during a two-day killing spree in the Midwest before taking his own life.
Smith was a member of the World Church of the Creator, which taught hatred of Christians, Jews and other minorities.
A lessening of moral values continued across America in 1999.
The first impeachment trial of a sitting president in more than a century ended with the Senate voting in February not to remove President Bill Clinton from office. The vote came after Clinton was impeached in December following his admission of a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
The SBC announced the same month that it no longer recommended American Airlines for travel to the annual meeting because of American’s support of homosexual activist organizations.
The homosexual movement gained ground in other areas with the University of Richmond banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. The move prompted Virginia Baptists to sever relations with the school.
The past year also saw continuation of an ongoing battle by Boy Scouts to exclude homosexuals from leadership.
Action by the Hawaii Supreme Court in December brought welcome news when the court ended the drive to legalize gay marriages. A unanimous decision upheld a state law granting marriage certificates only to heterosexual couples.
The decision was a setback for homosexuals because Hawaii was once considered one of several states most likely to legalize marriage between two people of the same sex.
The court cited an amendment to Hawaii’s constitution approved by voters in 1998 that granted lawmakers authority to limit state-recognized marriages to opposite-sex couples.
Gays received more welcome news a few weeks later when the Vermont Supreme Court ruled gay couples must be afforded the same benefits and protections as married couples of the opposite sex.
Despite growing up in a culture that questions absolute values, a group of Alabama teenagers said in February that they still support the Bible’s definition of proper sexual relationships. Forming a human chain across O’Neal Bridge in Florence, hundreds of young people from Colbert and Lauderdale counties demonstrated their support for the 1999 “True Love Waits” campaign, which emphasizes sexual purity.
Across the state, Alabama Baptists were making news. From major evangelism efforts and prayer initiatives to retirements and deaths, the denomination made headlines with what could be characterized as family matters.
Troy L. Morrison ended nine years as executive director-treasurer of the Alabama Baptist State Convention in January. Rick Lance succeeded Morrison and initiated a reorganization of the state board staff into five teams under the theme “Great Commission Ministries.”
Dellanna w. O’Brien, executive director of the national Women’s Missionary Union (WMU), announced the same month that she planned to retire in September 1999. The WMU made news again in November with the announcement that it was cutting 39 jobs at its national headquarters in Birmingham — one-fourth of its staff positions — to “stabilize expenses.”
Alabama’s WMU realized success when more than 3,400 women gathered at Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Birmingham, March 11–13 for the first Women’s Celebration.
The Women’s Celebration drew the largest adult crowd ever for an Alabama Baptist event. Sue McFadden of Fort Payne was re-elected president, along with Frankie Bowers of Clanton, vice president, and Debbie Snyder of Shelby County, secretary.
The news for Alabama’s Baptist colleges included a mixed bag.
Mark R. Foley was inaugurated as the third president at the University of Mobile (UM) in May. Speaking at the Alabama Baptist Convention in November, Foley said Dec. 7 would mark one year since the university was removed from probation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Foley also announced that UM was in the process of selling its Latin American campus in Nicaragua.
But UM was also haunted by its past when former president Michael Magnoli was convicted of tax fraud.
Samford University’s men’s basketball team celebrated their first bid to the NCAA tournament following a win over the University of Central Florida in February. The Bulldogs fell to St. John’s a month later, losing 68-43 during the first round of tournament play in Orlando.
Opening their 1999-2000 season, Samford won a vindication of sorts by defeating St. John’s 68-60.
UM men’s basketball team also made athletic history when they placed second in the NAIA National Championship Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., on March 22. Life University of Marietta, Ga., won the title with a three-point shot with 2.1 seconds left in the game, bringing the score to 63-60.
The UM Rams ended their season 34-6, the best record of any collegiate basketball team in Alabama for 1999 and the best record in Ram history.
Samford was recognized by U.S. News and World Report in September as the South’s sixth best school among regional universities. Judson College ranked in the fourth tier for national liberal arts colleges, and UM was listed in the third tier for regional schools in the South.
Across America, 1999 ended with a sense of anticipation. The excitement of the new millennium was tempered by worries about Y2K and the threat of terrorism. The passing year that saw many accomplishments also included tragedy and disaster.
Typical of the American spirit, people still looked to the new century with a sense of optimism. For Baptists, the challenge is no different as they look for new and bolder ways to reach people with the gospel.
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