JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) – A Florida Southern Baptist pastor says he has no intention of ending weekly prayers around an elementary school flagpole that the school district’s attorney says are unconstitutional. “We’re not changing anything,” Ron Baker, the pastor of…
Ohio Baptists ask NAMB to reconsider funding cuts
LIMA, Ohio (ABP) — Ohio Baptists passed a resolution Nov. 3 asking the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board to reconsider funding cuts they say would have “potentially disastrous impact” on church planting in the state. NAMB President Kevin…
Chinese government awards Baptist missionary
VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) – An American Baptist missionary was the only foreigner among more than 30 recipients of a prestigious charity award granted recently by the government of Jiangsu Province, China. Judy Sutterlin Chosen from nearly 1,000 nominees, recipients…
Church converts donated bank building to ministry center
TUCKER, Ga. (ABP) – Thanksgiving will come a little early this year for First Baptist Church in Tucker, Ga., with a Nov. 12 ribbon-cutting and grand opening of a new community ministry center made possible by the generosity of Wells…
Mercer grants domestic-partner benefits to gays
MACON, Ga. (ABP) – As one university affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention captured headlines with a new policy that effectively bans gay employees, another historically Georgia Baptist school announced adoption of a domestic-partner benefit policy providing access to health…
Additional charges filed against alleged peeping evangelist
OLIVE BRANCH, Miss. (ABP) – Charges are mounting against a traveling Southern Baptist evangelist accused of using a spy camera to secretly record video of a woman in her home, where he was staying as a houseguest while preaching at…
New Baptist Covenant II finalizes speaker lineup for Nov. gathering
ATLANTA (ABP) — Social activists Marian Wright Edelman and Tony Campolo will join former President Jimmy Carter and seven other speakers on the program of the New Baptist Covenant II, a Nov. 17-19 gathering of diverse Baptists in Atlanta that…
Pastor apologizes for Halloween tract
HILLSBORO, Ohio (ABP) – A Southern Baptist pastor in Ohio apologized for giving trick-or-treaters a religious tract that contained a cartoon depiction of a child hanging in a noose. Kenny Cousar, pastor of Northview Baptist Church in Hillsboro, Ohio, issued…
New Mexico Baptists affirm Glorieta
FARMINGTON, N.M. (ABP) – New Mexico Baptists overwhelmingly passed a resolution urging the Southern Baptist Convention and LifeWay Christian Resources to ensure that Glorieta Conference Center continues its ministry to Southern Baptists “well into the future or until Jesus returns.”…