Lovin' on Tulsa Time

Or maybe this is a case of "no, it's not love/But it's not bad".

Or, from his official point of view, it is bad.

It seems that Brother Lonnie Latham, senior pastor of the South Tulsa Baptist Church and a member of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, has got himself into a bit of a jam: Pastor who preached against gays arrested on lewdness charge USA Today/AP 01/05/06.

It seems that Brother Lonnie is being charged with soliciting an undercover male cop for, uh, oral sex.

Fortunately for himself, Brother Lonnie's worldview does offer hope for those who have gone astray from the, shall we say, straight and narrow:

Latham has supported a [Southern Baptist] convention directive urging members to befriend gays and lesbians and try to convince them that they can become heterosexual "if they accept Jesus Christ as their savior and reject their 'sinful, destructive lifestyle.'"

Brother Lonnie's picture in this report looks a tad scruffier than the one on his church's Web site: Prominent Baptist minister arrested in gay prostitution sting WBIR News 01/05/06


At the time of this report, his denominational bretheren weren't officially talking: Southern Baptist minister arrested in Tulsa; Nashville-based denomination won't comment Nashville Tennessean 01/05/06. Will they denounce his "sin"? Will they pray for his redemption?

Fortunately, he's a Baptist, so this won't send him to Hail, even if he doesn't repent. Because the Baptists have a "once saved, always saved" arrangement with the Almighty. Anyone who grew up in a small Southern town like I did probably has had many a discussion over that topic, always a source of lively conversation. The once-saved/always-saved thing, I mean, not necessarily the particular "sin".

"We haven't released a statement but we are aware of his arrest," Kenyn Cureton, SBC vice president for convention relations and senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Lebanon, said today. "If the charges are true, then this is a tragic circumstance. Lonnie, his family, and church family are in our prayers."

With more than 16 million members, the Nashville-based denomination is the nation's largest Protestant group and the nation's second-largest religious body, following the Roman Catholic Church.

Latham, who has spoken out against homosexuality, left jail Wednesday and told media that he was set up.

"I was in the area pastoring to police," he said, according to an Associated Press report.

Shoot, Brother Lonnie was just tryin' to break the ice with one of the good ole boys on the force! And the feller must'a taken it the wrong way. Why'd they have to go and make a big deal of it like that?

The convention's Baptist Press news doesn't have this item up yet as of this writing. Though they do dutifully report Acts 1:8 Challenge embraced in 2,000-plus churches.