Abstract:
The Rev. Linda Jordan and Rev. Mahan Siler are winners of the 1992 Independent Citizen Awards. Jordan’s and Siler’s Triangle area churches are the first to directly challenge the South Baptist Convention’s declaration against homosexuality. The two pastors practice tolerance, but have received backlash for their efforts. Congregation members have left; each pastor’s church has been expelled from the Southern Baptist Convention and the NC Baptist State Convention; and a campaign of hate has begun against the pastors and their churches.