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1. Recent decades · 1976–2026

2. early 1980s
   Construction or physical change · Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, Chapel Hill Binkley votes to build its sanctuary after years of debate

   After about eight years of argument over whether to build at all, the congregation voted in the early 1980s to build its present sanctuary. Members absent on the night of the vote could cast a written ballot at the church office during the following week.

3. February 20, 1983
   Publication, speech or performance · Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, Chapel Hill Robert Seymour preaches a sermon on the church and homosexuality

   Binkley's pastor Robert E. Seymour preached a sermon questioning the readings of scripture used to keep gay people at arm's length and citing new scientific work. Humber calls it the one time before 1991 that the church took up the subject.

4. March 25, 1990
   Appointment, election or service · Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, Chapel Hill Binkley calls Linda E. Jordan as senior minister

   After a two-year pulpit search, Binkley voted at a church conference on March 25, 1990 to call Dr. Linda E. Jordan as senior minister, with about 16 votes against. She moved to Chapel Hill about a month later.

5. April 5, 1992
   Appointment, election or service · Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, Chapel Hill Binkley's church conference votes to license John Blevins to preach

   At a quarterly church conference with 266 members present, Binkley voted by written ballot, 145 to 107, to license John Blevins, an openly gay Duke Divinity student. It first adopted, 142 to 87, a preface saying the church would disregard sexual orientation in calling pastors and in licensing or ordaining. The vote split the congregation and led the state and Southern Baptist conventions to cut ties.

6. June 14, 1992
   Law, policy or court · Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, Chapel Hill Binkley rescinds the preface on sexuality adopted with the licensure vote

   On the joint advice of its council and diaconate, a Binkley church conference voted 151 to 24 to rescind the April 5 preface, saying it acted over notice and fairness and not on the preface's content. The licensure itself stood. The same meeting let the church fill deacon seats between elections after seven deacons resigned.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 4, 2026.