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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Lonnie Latham, pastor of South Tulsa Baptist Church in Tulsa, Okla., was arrested the night of Jan. 3 in Oklahoma City for “offering to engage in an act of lewdness” according to charges published in various wire reports.
In an area of the city known for male prostitution, Latham allegedly asked a male undercover police officer to go with him to a local hotel for sex.
Television cameras captured him leaving the jail the next day when he stated he “was set up” and was in the area “pastoring to police.”
When reached by phone, Latham told Baptist Press that on advice from his attorneys he declined to comment.
Latham has been pastor of South Tulsa Baptist Church since 2002. The statistical records available for the SBC show that the church grew in resident members from 995 to 1,571 during his first two years there. Information for 2005 was not available.
He also served in various roles within the denomination: as recording secretary for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and by virtue of that office as a member of the state convention’s 64-member executive board and as one of four members representing Oklahoma on the 82-member Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. Both roles required election by messengers from churches, for the BGCO at the 2000 state annual meeting and for the SBC EC at the 2004 national annual meeting.
Baptist Press learned from officials of the church, the BGCO and the SBC Executive Committee that Latham has resigned each of his positions.
In a letter to the BGCO and an e-mail to the SBC EC, Latham cited “personal reasons” for his resignation. However, in resigning as pastor, he spoke in person to lay leaders and staff at South Tulsa Baptist Church.
The church’s minister of administration, Russell Slack, said Latham also submitted a letter, but that the contents would not be shared publicly. Slack said Latham appeared contrite when he presented his resignation.
“We have obviously two functions: One is to take care of the church and one is to minister to Lonnie as a brother in Christ,” Slack said.