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The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Tuesday, June 27, 2023 3A
Man accused of drive-by
shooting at insurance office
urday, June 24, to the 300
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@
gainesvilletimes.com
A Gainesville man was
accused of a drive-by shoot
ing Saturday morning, fir
ing a shot out of the window
toward a Gainesville insur
ance office, police said.
Francisco Javier Ser
rano Jr., 28, was charged
with aggravated assault and
possession of a firearm by
a convicted felon. He was
booked in to the Hall County
Jail, where he remains with
no bond.
Gainesville Police
arrived about 9:30 a.m. Sat-
BY BRIAN WELLMEIER
bwellmeier@
gainesvilletimes.com
A faulty drainage pipe
has caused officials to close
access to the entrance ramp
at the State Road 53 con
nector to motorists travel-
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@
gainsvilletimes.com
A tractor trailer carrying
frozen chicken overturned
Friday, June 23, blocking
one northbound lane on
Athens Highway heading
into Gainesville, according
to authorities.
The Hall County Sher-
BY REBECCA BOONE
Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — Prose
cutors say they are seeking
the death penalty against
a man accused of stabbing
four University of Idaho stu
dents to death late last year.
Bryan Kohberger, 28, is
charged with four counts of
murder in connection with
the deaths at a rental house
near the Moscow, Idaho,
university campus last
November. Latah County
Prosecutor Bill Thompson
filed the notice of his intent
to seek the death penalty in
court on Monday.
A not-guilty plea was
entered in the case on Koh-
berger’s behalf earlier this
year. A hearing in the case
is scheduled for Tuesday.
The bodies of Madison
Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves,
Xana Kernodle and Ethan
Chapin were found on Nov.
13, 2022, at a rental home
across the street from the
University of Idaho cam
pus. The slayings shocked
the rural Idaho commu-
DRIVER
■ Continued from 1A
Barnhardt, wo drove north
in the southbound lanes
of Ga. 365, according to
authorities.
block of Pearl Nix Parkway.
Lt. Kevin Holbrook said
Serrano
drove by
the area,
pulled out
a firearm
and shot
toward
Smiley
Insurance.
H o 1 -
brook said
Serrano
had “domestic-related
issues with an employee
of the business,” though
the exact nature is still
being pieced together by
ing west at the Shallowford
Road traffic signal.
The closure, which is
located at Mister Car Wash,
is in effect until further
notice.
All westbound traffic is
“urged to go to the next traf
fic light and turn right oppo-
iff’s Office said the tractor
trailer overturned after 4
p.m. Friday, June 23, on
U.S. 129/Athens Highway
at Bob Bryant Road. The
inside northbound lane is
blocked, and deputies are
on scene assisting with
traffic.
Hall County Fire Res
cue said the 18-wheeler
overturned “with about 96
nity and neighboring Pull
man, Washington, where
Kohberger was a graduate
student studying criminol
ogy at Washington State
University.
Police released few
details about the investiga
tion until after Kohberger
The deputy was able to
angle his patrol car to per
form a precision immobi
lization technique, putting
Barnhardt’s van into the
center cable barrier.
Moore said Barnhardt
thrashed around on the
ground and reached into
the waistband of his shorts
investigators.
Holbrook said investiga
tors believe a single shot
was fired, but they believe
there were no injuries nor
property damage.
The lieutenant said a wit
ness recognized the car,
leading police to Serrano’s
home within minutes of the
shooting. Police arrested
Serrano at his residence.
According to Magis
trate Court officials, Ser
rano requested a public
defender.
The Times reached out
to Smiley Insurance for
comment.
site Green Hill Circle Drive,”
according to a release from
Georgia’s Department of
Transportation.
Officials advise motorists
to “reduce their speed while
traveling through work
zones, stay alert and watch
for workers.”
pounds of frozen chicken
in the trailer.” The depart
ment also found a minor
diesel leak dripping from
the truck.
The driver was trans
ported to the hospital with
minor injuries and is con
sidered stable.
The Sheriff’s Office
said drivers should expect
delays.
was arrested at his parents’
home in eastern Pennsyl
vania early Dec. 30, 2022.
Court documents detailed
how police pieced together
DNA evidence, cellphone
data and surveillance video
that they say links Koh
berger to the slayings.
while deputies tried to
handcuff him.
“Barnhardt continued
to resist, placing a force
ful kick on the upper thigh
area of the deputy,” Moore
wrote in a news release.
The Gainesville man
was subdued, and a Haber
sham County Animal Care
and Control officer han
dled Barnhardt’s dog.
The officer’s in-car
camera showed Barnhardt
throwing narcotics across
the median when he exited
the van.
Hours later, officers
recovered fentanyl, meth-
amphetamine, THC wax
and marijuana from the
scene.
“Upon running his infor
mation through the state
and national databases,
Barnhardt returned with
an outstanding warrant
out of Ohio, with warnings
about his violent tenden
cies, being armed with
dangerous weapons, exten
sive narcotics offenses and
armed robberies,” Moore
wrote.
Barnhardt was booked
in to the Habersham
County Detention Center,
where he remained Mon
day, June 26.
CHURCH
■ Continued from 1A
reality is, the South
ern Baptist Convention
from the very beginning,
from its inception, (has
been) very clear that we
believe that the office of
a pastor should only be
held by a male person,
by a man.”
But Shoulta and others
argue that Southern Bap
tists have traditionally
sought to promote unity
over ideological purity.
“That’s why this move
is so unprecedented,
is that Baptists have
historically sought to
cooperate together over
differences on things
such as who individual
churches will call into
ministry, the manner
in which they practice
the Lord’s Supper, the
manner in which they
teach the Bible or lead
in worship, which is
why we have all kinds of
approaches and styles to
worship within Baptist
churches, because that
has traditionally been
left up to the discretion
of the individual congre
gations,” Shoulta told
The Times.
He noted that the SBC
is just one of many Bap
tist denominations in the
United States and across
the world. Southern Bap
tists make up about 13%
of the estimated 100 mil
lion Baptists worldwide.
“They’re not the only
church or denomination
in town,” he said.
Paul the Apostle:
Feminist or
Misogynist?
Like some other Bap
tists who argue that
only men should be
pastors, Williams and
Chavez cited the Letters
of Paul, in particular
1 Timothy 2:12-14, in
which the author writes:
“I permit no woman to
teach or have author
ity over a man; she is to
keep silent. For Adam
was formed first, then
Eve; and Adam was not
deceived and the woman
was deceived and
became a transgressor.”
Most New Testament
scholars agree, however,
that the above passage
and the pastoral epis
tles more generally are
forgeries, written not by
Paul but by a follower or
a scribe.
“Scholars will tell you
that first and second
Timothy .. are beyond
questionable as not
being Pauline writings,”
said Barry Whittemore,
a professor of Appala
chian and religious his
tory at the University of
North Georgia. “They
were written a little bit
later by someone else,
one of his followers.”
Whittemore said the
authentic writings of
Paul affirm the status
of women in the church
and lend credence to the
view that women can
serve as pastors.
“Look at the writings
of Paul — the ones we
know were really Paul
— and women were such
a huge part of his minis
try,” he said.
The current schism
among Southern Baptists
is a modern manifesta
tion of a debate that has
been raging for a long
time.
Bart Ehrman, a lead
ing New Testament
scholar and the author
of many popular books,
explains on his blog
that two starkly oppos
ing views emerged after
Paul’s death: “one that
portrayed him as very
much on the side of
women, a kind of early
Christian proto-feminist,
and the other that saw
him as a complete misog
ynist, one of antiquities
(sic) most outspoken.
Both of these portrayals
have come down to us in
the written record, and
have been believed as
gospel truth by one set
of Christians or another
over the centuries.”
The Bible contains
many discrepancies and
contradictions, which
make it possible to draw
wildly different conclu
sions on any number of
scriptural issues.
“Sadly, really with any
religion, you can take
scriptures and you can
take isolated statements
and you can make them
conform to your own
cultural preferences,
and so I feel like that is
what has happened with
women and this inter
pretation of scripture,”
Demby said.
Changes to
insurance,
retirement
One downside of split
ting with the SBC is that
it provides group health
insurance options and
retirement plans for
member churches.
“Finding affordable
health insurance plans,
especially for churches,
has become a very diffi
cult task,” Shoulta said,
especially as congre
gations age and fewer
young people attend
church. “But that is a
challenge that we should
be able to overcome.”
He added: “We’re not
going to ask our minis
ters to take on a greater
burden to pay for their
health insurance.”
Shoulta said the split
likely won’t have a
major impact on their
missionary work.
“Many of (SBC’s) mis
sionaries are funded
by special offerings,
which we have not col
lected for some time,”
he said. “We’ve been
directing our mission
ary giving and special
offerings towards Coop
erative Baptist Fellow
ship,” a more moderate
denomination that began
drifting from the SBC in
the early 1990s before
breaking away entirely.
‘Bullying tactics’
Southern Baptists also
voted overwhelmingly
to amend their constitu
tion to expel any church
which “affirms, appoints
or employs a woman as
a pastor of any kind.”
They will hold a final
vote on the amendment
at their next annual
meeting.
The amendment was
spearheaded by Virginia
pastor Mike Law, who
sent a letter to Southern
Baptist leaders urging
them to put it up for a
vote. He also published
a list of churches with
female pastors in an
effort to counter the
claim “that female pas
tors in the SBC don’t
really exist,” he wrote.
Shoulta wrote in the
letter to his congrega
tion that this “bullying
tactic compromised the
safety and well-being
of the women on our
staff, a move which sad
dened and infuriated our
church leadership.”
Demby was likewise
troubled by the list and
called it a “great inva
sion of privacy.”
The Baptist Standard,
a leading Baptist news
paper founded in 1888,
decided to remove the
list from its publications
because it “has been
used by some to harass
women and churches
named.”
Shoulta said his
church had not received
any threats or hostile
messages since the list
was published.
Despite their ideologi
cal differences, Williams
of Flat Creek Baptist said
his “heart really broke”
for First Baptist’s staff
knowing they “could
have felt bullied by that
or felt intimidated.”
“I think it’s important
to note that that amend
ment webpage was not
put out by the Southern
Baptist Convention,” he
said. “That was created
by a messenger (Mike
Law) who was going to
bring an amendment to
the Convention.”
Law could not be
reached for comment.
The path toward
‘transgenderism’
Conservative mem
bers of the Southern Bap
tists have long warned
of the growing threat of
“evangelical feminism,”
arguing that permitting
women to serve as pas
tors is but the first step
down a destructive path
toward liberalism.
In a high-production
video, Law said: “Gen
erally speaking, his
tory shows that once a
denomination allows
female pastors, it’s usu
ally just a matter of time
until they affirm practic
ing homosexuals as pas
tors. .. Soon, Southern
Baptists will start openly
supporting homosexual
clergy, same-sex mar
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£hc (Times
gainesvi I letimes.com
Will be CLOSED
Tuesday, July 4th in observance
of Independence Day.
Faulty drainage pipe closes
State Road 53 ramp connector
Overturned chicken truck causes
traffic delays on Athens Highway
Death penalty sought for Idaho
University stabbing of 4 students
ZACH WILKINSON I Associated Press
Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for his arraignment
hearing in Latah County District Court, May 22, in Moscow,
Idaho.
Serrano
riage and eventually
transgenderism.”
An analysis published
by American Reformer,
an evangelical advo
cacy group, estimates
that there are about
1,800 female pastors
among the denomina
tion’s 47,000 churches,
meaning women likely
account for less than
one-tenth of 1 % of South
ern Baptist pastors.
“This is a staggering
number, and it dwarfs
the previously known
information about
female pastors by a fac
tor of ten,” the study’s
author, Kevin McClure,
wrote. He argued that
failing to stem the SBC’s
“movement to the theo
logical left” threat
ens the future of the
denomination.
Southern Baptist mem
bership has been declin
ing since 2006. Last year,
nearly 460,000 members
were reported to have
left the denomination in
the largest single-year
exodus in over a century,
though with more than
13 million remaining
members, Southern Bap
tists are still the largest
Protestant denomination
in the United States.
Shoulta believes the
ban on female pastor
ship will only further
mire the denomina
tion and accelerate its
decline.
“This is going to be a
bureaucratic nightmare
for the Southern Baptist
Convention,” he said.
“They’re going to have
to do their research
and their work to find
the churches that have
female pastors and ulti
mately ask them, ‘Do
you still have female
pastors? Are you getting
rid of them? Are you
changing their titles?”’
“I can’t see many
churches moving in
the direction of deeper
involvement or joining
the Southern Baptist
Convention with a move
like this,” he said. “My
guess is that a majority
of these churches (with
female pastors) are sim
ply going to walk away
like ours.”
Why are people
leaving the church?
Ryan Burge, a pro
fessor of political sci
ence at Eastern Illinois
University and author
of “The Nones: Where
They Came From, Who
They Are, and Where
They Are Going,” has
identified a number of
factors involved in the
decline of Southern Bap
tist membership.
“The Southern Baptist
Convention is facing the
same headwinds plagu
ing nearly every other
religious institution in
the U.S.,” he wrote. “The
decline in institutional
trust, the aging of an
unusually large genera
tion, and the rise in athe
ism make it increasingly
difficult for denomina
tions to thrive.”
But “an even big
ger threat to the SBC,”
he wrote, may be “the
dramatic rise in nonde-
nominational churches,”
which aren’t weighed
down by the “institu
tional baggage” of a
denomination like the
Southern Baptists. In
other words, people may
be leaving the denomi
nation because they
don’t want “a head office
hundreds of miles away”
telling them what to do.
In his letter to
Southern Baptist lead
ers, Law condemned
women-led churches for
“contaminat(ing) the soil
of our Convention with
distrust and disobedi
ence to the Scriptures,”
and for fomenting
disunity within the
denomination.
Demby believes, how
ever, that Southern Bap
tists may well be sowing
the seeds of their own
destruction, and neglect
ing their calling to serve
in the process.
“Sadly, what the South
ern Baptists have done
really plays into the ste
reotype of the church as
a moribund institution,”
she said. “There is so
much that needs to be
done in a hurting world
today that I want people
to know that we are not
going to waste a lot more
time on this. We’re at
work in the community,
in the state and around
the world.”