November 17 1997

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—Revival meetings continue at the Pensacola, Florida-based Brownsville Assembly of God (CT, March 3, 1997, p. 54) despite the hospitalization of the 47-year-old pastor, John Kilpatrick. On September 17, Kilpatrick fell 14 feet from the second story of a home he is having built, breaking his pelvic bone in four places and fracturing eight ribs. Evangelist Steve Hill is preaching the services while Kilpatrick spends several months recuperating.

—A Georgia Baptist Convention investigative committee has concluded that Mercer University President R. Kirby Godsey has "failed his spiritual fiduciary responsibility" because of views expressed in When We Talk About God … Let's Be Honest that "dramatically deviate from orthodoxy." In the book, published last year, Godsey gave credence to notions of a fallible Bible and a universalist doctrine of salvation (CT, Feb. 3, 1997, p. 81).

—Orange County (Calif.) Judge Gregg Prickett sentenced Southern Baptist pastor Wiley Drake to 1,500 hours community service September 19 for breaking laws by housing homeless people at his Buena Park church. But Prickett credited Drake for 1,500 hours already served for church activities, including caring for the homeless (CT, Sept. 1, 1997, p. 94).

—The 25,000-square-foot Birmingham-based Disciples, the nation's first "Christian superstore" (CT, Jan. 8, 1996, p. 57), has closed after 18 months. Analysts blame the closure on a combination of an inadequate location, undercapitalization, and misguided marketing.

—Alan Andrews on September 1 succeeded Terry Taylor as U.S. director of the Navigators. Andrews, 53, has been with the Colorado Springs-based evangelization and discipling ministry for 33 years. He became national ...