Southern Baptists lack consensus on speaking in tongues
By ROSE FRENCH Associated Press Writer
October 7th, 2006

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The first time the Rev. Dwight McKissic ever spoke in tongues, he was a seminary student, praying on his knees in his dorm room.

"Strange sounds begin to come out of my mouth," McKissic said. "The only thing I could think of was, I was either losing my mind or this is what the Bible calls speaking in tongues. I wasn't trying to do it. It just happened.

"It's this sense of being intimate with God," said McKissic, who is now a Southern Baptist minister in Arlington, Texas. "It's different, but not necessarily a better way to pray."

Southern Baptists have long viewed speaking in tongues with ambivalence, not exactly condemning a practice that's mentioned in the Bible, but not allowing it from its pastors and churches. the rest