Disciples of Christ Name Interim Leader : Sexuality: The action is forced by narrow defeat of nominee who argued that the Bible does not forbid the ordination of gays. The 1.1-million-member church will select a new candidate in 1993.

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) appointed an interim leader this week as it sought to recover from the narrow defeat of a nominee who argued that the Bible doesn’t forbid the ordination of homosexuals.

The Rev. C. William Nichols, 64, said it was a difficult decision to accept the job as acting president and general minister of the 1.1-million-member church, but he promised he would be more than a caretaker.

“An interim sort of keeps the seat warm until someone else comes along to occupy it,” said Nichols, senior minister of the Central Christian Church in Decatur, Ill.

He will be president until the Indianapolis-based church presents another nominee at the 1993 General Assembly in St. Louis. Nichols succeeds John Humbert, whose six-year term expired Wednesday.

His appointment was made necessary when the Rev. Michael Kinnamon fell 87 votes short of confirmation Monday.

Church policy does not permit any nominations from the floor of the assembly, and so an interim president had to be appointed.

Because of the controversy surrounding Kinnamon’s candidacy, ballots were counted by bonded people provided by the Tulsa convention bureau with oversight by a committee from the church.

Voting delegates included lay representatives from the Disciples’ 4,100 congregations, as well as ministers and denominational officials.

Kinnamon, a well-known ecumenical expert and dean of Lexington Theological Seminary, needed a 66.6% majority to win election to a six-year term but received just less than that, 65.1%. The final tally gave 3,679 votes to Kinnamon, 1,944 votes against and 28 abstentions.

When the vote was announced Monday, tears were shed by many delegates and some could be seen hugging and consoling each other.

Conservatives in the denomination had forcefully opposed Kinnamon, who was the only nominee. His name had been submitted by the church’s presidential nominating committee.

Kinnamon provoked an uproar within the denomination by interpreting Scriptures as providing no basis for refusing to ordain homosexuals. Kinnamon is a member of Gay, Lesbian and Affirming Disciples.

Shortly after Kinnamon was nominated by an administrative committee in February, an Indiana church sent its “Remington Declaration” to all 4,105 congregations opposing him because of his liberal interpretation of the Bible.

Immediately after Nichols was presented as acting president, the church delegates approved an item that will allow a two-year period of reflection on homosexuals as ministers.

Because of the study, Nichols declined to give his views about homosexuals, saying only he would try to “effect some understanding and agreement on this issue.”

“Many people have suffered over it,” Nichols said. “We need a time of reflection and research. There is a need to remind ourselves of who we are and why we are a church.”

A native of Baxter Springs, Kan., Nichols has been senior minister of Central Christian Church since 1973. He previously was a pastor at the Central Christian Church in Kansas City, Kan., and the First Christian Church in Poteau, Okla.

Because general ministers must be younger than 68 when a six-year term ends, Nichols cannot be nominated in 1993.

Kinnamon, 42, was one of several members who embraced Nichols as he left the stage Wednesday morning.

Arguments pro and con during debate before the vote illustrated the deep divisions Kinnamon’s nomination created in the denomination.

Roger Wilson of Lansing, Mich., said the Holy Spirit told him to “make a stand in a loud voice” against homosexual ministers.

“It is time to tell our national organization what direction we do and do not want our church to take,” said Wilson. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what God is lovingly trying to tell us (in the Bible).”

But Lively Wilson of Louisville, Ky., reminded delegates that Kinnamon would not be able to force congregations to hire a homosexual if they did not want to.

Some churches, he said, might call a pastor whose skills are so great that sexual orientation would be secondary.

“We Disciples are a marvelously diverse group,” he said. “We accept anyone who confesses that Jesus is Lord.”