(ABP) — Walk around your church. Stand at each entryway and look closely in every direction. Think like a thief or a criminal. Are you surrounded by suburbs, or is your church now located within a business community? No matter…
Churches advised to begin by assessing risks
UNIVERSITY, Miss. (ABP) –Concerned about developing a church security plan? Security expert Chester Quarles suggests starting with a risk assessment. "Risk assessment is usually historical. We need to know what has gone before," said Quarles, professor emeritus of criminal justice…
Safe and secure from all alarm
OKLAHOMA CITY (ABP) — By definition, a "sanctuary" should be a place of refuge and protection where people feel welcome and feel safe. In practice, churches struggle with what it means to open their doors to everyone while providing a…
Fred Shuttlesworth, civil rights pioneer, dies at 89
Fred Shuttlesworth BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) – Fred Shuttlesworth, the last of the “Big Three” of the civil rights movement with Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King Jr., died Oct. 5. He was 89. Among the general public Shuttlesworth was the…
Baptist peace group urges prayer for Liberian elections
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) – A Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America delegation just back from two weeks conducting training in conflict transformation and non-violence with Liberian pastors and leaders is calling on Christians everywhere to join in prayer and fasting…
Opinion: Pastors don’t like stewardship campaigns, either
(ABP) — There’s a bite in the morning air. The leaves are starting to turn brilliant colors. Piles of pumpkins slow foot traffic at the entrance to the grocery store. In a pastor’s world this can mean only one thing….
Supreme Court hears arguments in important church-state case
WASHINGTON (ABP) – The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Oct. 5 in a closely watched case involving a church’s right to hire or fire ministers for reasons like religious doctrine that in other settings would be job discrimination. “The…
Man sentenced in church embezzlement
Michael Whitt Barbara Whitt GREENVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) – A man convicted of conspiring with his mother to steal $1.5 million from a Tennessee Baptist church was sentenced Oct. 4 to just over four years in prison. Senior U.S. District Judge…
Pastor acquitted on molestation count
TUSCUMBIA, Mo. (ABP) — A Missouri Baptist minister has been acquitted in a child molestation charge heard in Miller County Sept. 28. Travis Smith, 41, pastor of First Baptist Church in Stover, Mo., was acquitted in the yearlong case after the jury…
Opinion: The face of hope
(ABP) — What does the face of a child rescued from trafficking look like? The question raced through my mind as our plane taxied down the runway in Kathmandu. I was one of five women on a mission trip to…
Stover pastor acquitted on molestation count
TUSCUMBIA — A Missouri Baptist minister has been acquitted in a child molestation charge heard in Miller County Sept. 28. Travis Smith, pastor of First Baptist Church in Stover, was acquitted in the yearlong case after the jury deliberated for…
Supreme Court hears arguments in important church-state case
WASHINGTON (ABP) – The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Oct. 5 in a closely watched case involving a church’s right to hire or fire ministers for reasons like religious doctrine that in other settings would be job discrimination. “The…