Bubbaworld

On Tuesday night, January 3, 2006 Dr. Lonnie Wayne Latham, 59, senior pastor at South Tulsa Baptist Church and one of four Southern Baptist Convention executive committee members from Oklahoma, was arrested and booked into Oklahoma County Jail on a misdemeanor charge of offering to engage in an act of lewdness with a male undercover Oklahoma City Police Officer. Latham has frequently spoken out against homosexuality and stated that homosexuals can become heterosexual “if they accept Jesus Christ as their savior and reject their ’sinful, destructive lifestyle.”‘

Upon his release on $500 bond Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Latham made a brief statement in passing to the news media indicating that he was “set up” while ministering in an area of Oklahoma City known for male prostitution. In some reports Latham was qouted as indicating he was ‘ministering to law enforcement officers’ and in others he was simply quoted as saying he was ‘ministering to people in the area’.

Oklahoma City Police Capt. Jeffrey Becker released a public statement indicating that Dr. Latham was arrested and his 2005 Mercedes automobile was impounded after Latham asked the officer to join him in a hotel room for the purpose of engaging in oral sex.

In his public statement Capt. Becker also stated that the officer reported there was no discussion of prayer during the exchange. The officer said the man called himself Luke, claimed he was from Dallas, worked out of Tulsa and visited Oklahoma City monthly and simply requested the undercover officer go with him to a motel room for oral sex. Becker further stated that Latham was not charged with a prostitution-related complaint because he did not offer an amount of money in exchange for sex.

On Thursday, January 5, 2006 administrators at the South Tulsa Baptist Church placed Dr. Latham on paid administrative leave and indicated a public statement from the church would be made on Friday.

Heidi B. Wilburn, spokeswoman for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, said in a statement that the group is “deeply grieved” by Latham’s arrest.

The lewdness charge carries a penalty of up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

On Friday, January 6th it was announced that Pastor Latham had resigned both his position as senior pastor at South Tulsa Baptist Church and as a Board member Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and the national Southern Baptist Convention. No explanation for Latham’s resignation was available as of Friday afternoon leaving one to speculate on whether Latham was ’set up’ or simply caught in a gay prostitution sting as Oklahoma City Police have claimed.

It was also learned late Friday afternoon that Latham was ticketed in 1998 for ‘failure to stop at a stop sign’ very near the same location where he was arrested on Tuesday night, leaving the impression this was not the first time Pastor Latham had visited the area of the Habanna Inn which bills itself as “The Southwest’s Largest Gay Resort”.