Briefly noted

Christian Century, Jan 24, 2001

* The Southern Baptists' Golden Gate Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, California, has eliminated four staff positions and delayed hiring and a 3 percent salary increase as a result of the reduction of financial support by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. "We are saddened by the necessity of these organizational decisions," said William Crews, seminary president. The moderate-led Texas convention voted in October to reduce funding of the conservative denomination's six seminaries by more than $4 million this year. That translated to an annual loss of about $514,000 for the seminary, representing about 8 percent of Golden Gate's annual budget.

* The publishing arm of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) says it will become a partner with Cokesbury, a United Methodist retailer, and substantially reduce its staff in February. Cyrus N. White, president and publisher of the St. Louis--based Christian Board of Publication, said the move will allow his division to focus on publishing resources--including Chalice Press and the Disciple magazine--when it turns its increasingly costly sales operations over to the well-known Methodist supplier.

* Gaylord Entertainment, a company based in Nashville, Tennessee, has announced that it will close its Internet operations, including Musicforce.com and Lightsource.com, two Christian sites. The company, whose holdings include the Grand Ole Opry and Opryland Hotel, indicated recently that it would no longer be in the Internet business. It reported losses of $48 million in the first three quarters of the fiscal year, the Associated Press reported. The subsidiary began a year ago when the company purchased the two "dot-coms." Lightsource.com is a Christian Internet broadcasting site and Musicforce.com is a Christian music retailing site. Earlier this year, the company decided to close Z Music Television, its 24-hour cable channel that featured Christian music videos.