I think this article might be of some interest to the Christians here as well as the atheists. It’s about how the Southern Baptist church is changing and, more specifically, about a small church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee (yes, the same Murfreesboro where all the uproar over the mosque was happening). The church was dying and facing total bills that were higher than what it had in its bank account, so they reached out to some Arab Christians to see if they wanted to buy it. They did.

It’s pretty long, but worth reading for a couple of reasons, IMO. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like the Arab guy now leading the church is any more tolerant & open-minded than the old Southern Baptists were—maybe even less. They also seem to be particularly interested in “saving” Muslims, which could cause more than a little friction.

Emphasis in the last paragraph is mine:

One church’s sunset means a new day for another

How an Arabic Baptist church came to be, much less came to be in Murfreesboro, Tenn., is another story of the changing South, which is now home to seven of the top 10 suburban areas with the fastest-growing immigrant populations, a list that includes the Nashville-Murfreesboro corridor along Interstate 24.

Specifically, it is the story of Raouf Ghattas, who was born in Egypt and grew up a Presbyterian. As an adult, he came to the United States to work as a nuclear engineer in Charlotte, where he learned to pronounce biscuit “biskit” instead of “biskwit,” grew tired of fast living and fond of Billy Graham, and in a mood of desperation one night, called out, “Lord, even if I die, I can’t live like this anymore.”

“The Lord made it clear,” he said. “No more drinking. No more girls. No more smoking. I slept like a baby. The next morning, I said, ‘I am a new creation in Christ.’ “

As a new creation, Raouf decided to stop being a nuclear engineer and attend a Southern Baptist seminary to become a preacher. He was drawn to a denomination that embraced evangelism and, as he saw it, conservative values similar to those in the Arab world, where men headed the family, and homosexuality was against God’s order. […]

If anyone’s interested in paging this, feel free to do so as I’m not in the mood to create & babysit one.