Baptists Look at 'Third Way' Church

A Los Angeles-area Southern Baptist church that some media reports said adopted a "third way" position regarding homosexuality in reality never voted to adopt any position on the issue and split into two groups in early June amid unresolvable deadlock, an elder at the church has told Baptist Press.

A vice president with the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee said EC staff members gathered information on New Heart Community Church in La Mirada, Calif., during the week leading up to the SBC annual meeting in Baltimore and were prepared to provide that information to President Fred Luter and the Credentials Committee if any motion was presented concerning the church. However, the one motion presented regarding New Heart was ruled out of order because it directed SBC officers to take action prohibited by Article IV of the SBC Constitution.