NC Baptists expel Charlotte church over gays, local churches quit in protest

Delegates to the annual meeting of the N.C. Baptist State Convention voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to expel Charlotte's Myers Park Baptist for welcoming gays and lesbians without trying to change them. [..] Six other churches out of more 4,000, including three in Charlotte, quit the Baptist State Convention to protest those rules. The six called them a violation of local autonomy. [..] The vote to expel Myers Park Baptist came after two leaders of the church called on the convention to open their hearts to homosexuals who want to worship with them and to respect local Baptist churches' autonomy."Jesus welcomed those considered outcasts and sinners by his culture and religion," the Rev. Stephen Shoemaker, senior minister at Myers Park Baptist, said from the podium. "We hope we live in his spirit."

Excerpts from: N.C. Baptists expel Myers Park church by Tim Funk, Charlotte Observer Nov. 14, 2007

In a recent WCNC news story, it's been reported that, because the convention's leadership has become increasingly dominated by biblical literalists, historical colleges, retirement homes and a women's missions organization were expected to part ways with the N.C. Baptist State Convention.

You can read Myers Park Baptist's Reverend H. Stephen Shoemaker's recent compelling sermon on the need for the Church to go beyond both the fundamentalism which is tearing away the connective comminal fabric of the NC Baptist Convention and modernism here. On the seron, he states,

"We are called to be non-conformist in the cause of the kingdom of God."

What do you think about this?