CLIPPING SERVICE 1115 HILLSBORO

RALEIGH, NC 27603 TEL. (919) 833-2079

OBSERV.,:R CHARL01'1'E,. N. C. CIR: SUN: 2t ?,435

{'}) ~\V AUG 12 94

('~qi Wax

~peaker at Woodla<fJ didn't back violence

The writer is pastor, Woodlawn Baptist Church.

I trust "Shootings disturb reso­ lute abortion foes" Jays to rest any idea that all abortion opponents favor the vigilante "justice" of the murders in Pensacola. I thank Ken Garfield for giving us the opportu­ nity to be heard.

One thing I would add: The article leaves the impression our speaker, Tina Huffman, might have supported these shootings. While she is adamant in her opposition to abortion, she equally denounces those who would take life in the name of the unborn. In her words from our pulpit, such people "have murder in their hearts."

Rev. JAMES T. POSEY Chari~

.;:_____)" D E C - 5 9 5 c:~ l - , . . " '-

Minister' to step down after Hooters remarks' Pastor plans to leave Woodlawn Baptist

By KEN GARflELD Religion Editor

A Southern Baptist pastor an­ nounced plans to step down from his Charlotte church, 2lh weeks after he was quoted in The Ob­ server while having lunch at Hoot­ ers.

The Rev. James Pose~ of 1,100- member °Woodlawn Baptist Church said his resignation wasn't

in direct response to his eating at the South Boulevard home of scantily clad waitresses. But he said the matter came up before church leaders last Thursday, a meeting that led to his announce­ ment he'll leave by June 30.

Posey was on his way to visit a shut-in on Nov. 15 when he de­ cided to stop in Hooters for lunch. An Observer reporter was there interviewing patrons about a fed­ eral directive that the restaurant hire male waiters.

"The guy was interviewing," said Posey. "He interviewed me

and I got on the front page. I was embarrassed all that happened."

"The timing did fall into play with that," said Posey, 42, an Ala­ bama native who has been at Woodlawn on Nations Crossing Road since 1990. "No one at the church has said to me, 'Because of this you're not fit to be a pastor.' Everyone at the church who has talked to me has been sweet-tem­ pered and kind and understanding. That's not to say it didn't offend some people."

Posey told the congregation Sunday he's been looking for an-

\

other pulpit for a while, frustrated over the lack of growth at Wood­ lawn. Some search committees from other churches have visited Woodlawn to hear Posey preach.

The church, part of a denom­ ination known for its socially con­ servative ethic, averages about 250 for Sunday-morning worship.

''We peaked out about three · years ago," said Posey. "It's been going down since then. I felt like they needed a change in leader­ ship, and I needed one, too."

/

CUPPING SERVICE 1115 HILLSBORO

RALEIGH, NC 27603 0 TEL. (919) 833-2079

NIW:i

~~

DEC -6 95

( MINISTER RESIGNS - A

\

Baptist pastor in Charlotte says he \ will step down from his post after he ~ was quoted in a newspaper interview t1' while having lunch at a Hooters

restaurant. The Rev. James Posey, pastor of Woodlawn Baptist Church, -said his resignation wasn't related to his visit to the restaurant. The minis­ ter said he was on the way to visit a shut-in when he decided to stop at Hooters for lunch. A reporter was there interviewing patrons about a federal directive that the restaurant chain hire male waiters. Posey told his congregation Sunday that he's ac­ tually been looking for another pulpit for some time.

/

CUPPING SERVICE 1115 HILLSBORO

RALEIGH, NC 27603 0 TEL. (919) 833-2079

OBSERVf.R CHARLOTTE. N. C. t\k: SUN1 2t 1,435

- 6 95

SCOTT FOWLER Guest column

We forget: Preachers are human S hould a preacher be a saint? Can pastors make mis­

takes? And does anyone go into Hoot­

ers just for the chicken wings? Those are the questions raised

by the saga of the Rev. James Po­ s~ He ate lunch at the Hooters o~outh Boulevard on Nov. 15, and on Sunday announced his resignation as pastor of Char­ lotte's Woodlawn Baptist Church. Church leaders are bemoaning

the fuss and explaining them­ selves. "I can't say that going to Hooters is totally unacceptable behavior," says Sam Treadaway, the chairman of the church's board of deacons. "It's not illegal. I will say it was a lapse in good judgment."

Posey was thinking about leav­ ing already. But his departure was undeniably hastened by his visit to Hooters - the restaurant chain famous for its wink-wink name and barely-dressed waitresses. Posey was quoted in an Ob­

server story on Nov. 16 about the federal directive that Hooters must hire male waiters. He was against it, saying that "the girls are basically what Hooters is about." Mistake? Yes. Mistake worth a "mutual resig­

nation?" Noway. Now the Hooters/preacher inci­

dent has caused an old theologi­ cal debate to rise like Lazarus. To what standards of behavior

do Southern Baptists hold their preachers? And are they fair?

"I had some people complain one time because I had been play­ ing golf and softball," says the Rev. Grady Faulk of Stough Me­ morial Baptist in Pineville. "They thought the preacher should study the Bible all the time, say 'thee' and 'thou' and only speak in a very deep voice." Faulk didn't stop playing. "In fact, my game improved,"

he says. "I thought about the main guy (who complained) the next time I played and hit the day­ lights out of the ball." Complaining about golf and

softball playing is ridiculous. And although I don't go to ei­

ther Hooters or Southern Baptist churches myself, I think that Po­ sey should be able to go to Hoot­ ers whenever he wants.

So where do you draw a line? For Southern Baptist churches,

anywhere they wish. The ultimate authority for Southern Baptists are the local churches, which make their own rules. So what if you saw your wor­

ship leader at the sexually explicit movie "Showgirls"? Or how about downing his sec­

ond beer at a Christmas party? Or maybe stopped on the side

of the road, getting a ticket? One prominent local Southern

Baptist preacher who didn't want to be quoted says that "75 to 80 percent" of Mecklenburg South­ ern Baptist congregations would either advise a preacher who was seen at Hooters to seek counsel-

. ing or resign. Says the Rev. John Walsh, the

senior minister at Myers Park Baptist: "We aren't permitted to show our humanity. I'm con­ vinced that pastors aren't able to make the human errors that ev­ eryone else makes. And in some ways, that is an impossible bur­ den." But many Southern Baptists

say that the burden is bearable. "When a Christian accepts the

responsibility of leadership, that person should accept a higher code of ethics themselves," says Ron Pinkerton, the director of Baptist Metrolina Ministries. Metrolina Ministries is an orga­

nization that supports and con­ sults with the approximately 100 Southern Baptist churches and · missions in Mecklenburg County. Those 100 churches boast a total of around 45,000 members, Pin­ kerton says - easily more than any other local denomination. There are 15.4 million South­

ern Baptists nationwide, ranking the denomination second to Ro­ man Catholicism in membership.

I hope Posey finds a few hun­ dred of those 15.4 million. I hope he gets to lead them. And I hope - for his sake -

that a few of them have been to Hooters, too.