Kansas Pastor Blasts Policy Okaying Homosexual Mentors
-	Pastor Terry Fox

By Fred Jackson
August 20, 2002

(AgapePress) - A Southern Baptist pastor in Kansas is stirring up controversy in a campaign he has launched against the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization.

Terry Fox is pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Wichita. Like many Christians, he was outraged to learn recently that Big Brothers Big Sisters of America had adopted a new pro-homosexual policy. The organization will no longer oppose homosexuals becoming mentors for the young people it serves.
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/12002a.asp   [See Related Story]

Pastor Fox is calling on his 6,000-member congregation to start a letter-writing campaign against BBBSA. In an interview with The Wichita Eagle, he said when you work with children it gives an opportunity for pedophilia to take place, and such organizations must be held to a higher standard.

Fox also wants to take his campaign beyond his own church. During his sermon on Sunday, the preacher of 23 years called on all pastors across the state who call themselves men of God not to be asleep, but to stand up. "It's amazing to me how quiet pastors are, and I really made an appeal not only to the Southern Baptist pastors but to pastors of all denominations to go to their pulpits and encourage their people to get involved in these battles," Fox says. "I reminded them [of a passage in the Book of] Isaiah, where the shepherds and the watchmen were not being faithful and God had some strong words to say about that. In fact, He compared them to lazy dogs that would not bark."  Fox says society has changed and reached a point where Christians must speak up and be prepared to accept the consequences. "I believe we're at a  particular time in the age of the Church where the lines are being drawn in the sand differently than they were ten years ago," he says. "Jesus said 'Blessed are those when they persecute you' -- we're going to be persecuted. And I told our people Sunday morning, with all the media and the press there, that [they] may lose their job or not get a promotion because [they] take a stand -- but so be it."  According to Fox, his church has already received a lot of media attention over its stand. But he notes the reporters who were in the congregation on Sunday also heard the gospel message. "Homosexuality is not a 'gray' issue--it's a 'black-and-white' issue," Fox says. "You either believe the book [the Bible] or you don't." Reports say Fox's congregation gave him a standing ovation following the sermon. http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=14063  [See Related Story on Baptist Press]