Two weeks ago, Tim Tebow backed out of a planned guest appearance at First Baptist Church of Dallas due to unspecified "new information"--most likely some of the uglier sermons that have been preached of late by its pastor, Robert Jeffress. Well, if at all possible, Tebow is currently set for an even more outrageous speaking engagement. People for the American Way reports that Tebow is going to be one of the featured speakers at the Wildfire Men's Impact Weekend, to be held this Friday and Saturday at Liberty University. He's going to be speaking at the kickoff event, a Friday morning student convocation.
Liberty's history as a fountainhead of homophobia in its ugliest form needs no elaboration here, though PFAW managed to provide only a small sample of the uglier statements that have come from Liberty and other institutions and individuals in the ministry complex founded by Jerry Falwell. What makes this particularly outrageous, though, is what appears to be overwhelming evidence that Liberty and the other major component of the Falwell empire, Thomas Road Baptist Church, were accessories to a kidnapping. Specifically, Lisa Miller's flouting of a court order to give her former lesbian partner, Janet Jenkins, full custody of their daughter Isabella Jenkins. According to a RICO suit filed by Janet Jenkins, Liberty Law School and Thomas Road actively helped Miller flee to Nicaragua with Isabella in 2009. Most damningly, two Thomas Road elders helped Miller pack her stuff before she fled the country, and another defendant made numerous calls to phone numbers associated with Liberty Counsel, the law firm affiliated with Liberty Law School, on the day Lisa Miller fled the country.
Tebow isn't the only one who needs a bug put in his ear over this. Other high-profile speakers at this conference are former Atlanta Braves Sid Bream (a Liberty graduate) and John Smoltz. And one of the sponsors of this conference is Roanoke/Lynchburg's ABC affiliate, WSET-TV. Drop them a line either on their Website or on Facebook.