HOUSTON (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship faced financial hardship and generational change in its 19th General Assembly July 2-3 in Houston. Registration for the meeting reached 1,637, well below the 2,250 registered last year in Memphis. Organizers anticipated a…
Wrapup: CBF deals with budget shortfall, generational shift
HOUSTON (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship faced financial hardship and generational change in its 19th General Assembly July 1-3 in Houston. Registration for the meeting reached 1,637, well below the 2,250 registered at last year’s meeting in Memphis. Organizers…
SBC Executive Committee VP steps down suddenly
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention official responsible for planning the SBC annual meeting has resigned abruptly, after less than two years on the job and two weeks after this year’s convention meeting in Louisville, Ky. The Southern…
Shurden: Highest freedom is freely giving self to God
HOUSTON (ABP) — Baptists must aspire to the kind of freedom that leads them to relinquish their autonomy to God, historian Walter Shurden told participants at the William H. Whitsitt Baptist Heritage Society’s annual meeting July 2. Shurden received the…
BWA chief invites Baptists to gather around the table of fellowship
HOUSTON—The communion table provides a metaphor for how the Baptist World Alliance can unite Baptists in a “true spirit of hospitality,” Neville Callam insisted. Callam, general secretary of the worldwide organization, addressed the challenge of bringing Baptists together during the…
Congressman says religious liberty demands vigilance
HOUSTON (ABP) — One of Congress’ strongest advocates for church-state separation thanked Baptists for their contributions to religious liberty July 3 and reminded them of the need to continue defending the wall between church and state. “I have seen too…
Young pastors encourage CBF supporters to ‘Embrace the World’
Pastor Julie Merritt delivers a theme interpretation July 2 at the CBF General Assembly in Houston. (CBF photo) HOUSTON (ABP) — Attendees to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly heard a visceral call to embrace the world — and…
CBF adopts $16.1 million budget, but continues reduced spending
HOUSTON (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship adopted a $16.1 million budget July 3, but will begin the 2009-2010 fiscal year spending at 80 percent of projected income, anticipating continued reduced giving due to the economy. “It will come as…
Vestal says CBF a work of God’s grace
HOUSTON (ABP) — Nearly 20 years after its founding as a small breakaway group birthed by controversy in the Southern Baptist Convention, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship exists today as a work of God's grace, the group's top executive said July…
Vestal says CBF a work of God’s grace
HOUSTON (ABP) — Nearly 20 years after its founding as a small breakaway group birthed by controversy in the Southern Baptist Convention, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship exists today as a work of God’s grace, the group’s top executive said July…
Leonard: Baptists must find new ways to express ideals
Leonard speaks at ABP dinner. HOUSTON (ABP) — Baptist denominational systems across the United States are in transition and being redefined, spawning a number of issues that are complicating and clouding the Baptist landscape, historian Bill Leonard told a…
Respond to Muslims with compassion, leaders tell Baptists
HOUSTON (ABP) — Baptists should relate to Muslims on the basis of compassion and friendship, not fear or indifference, say two ministers who are engaged in interfaith dialogue with Islamic leaders. Jesus’ attitude of compassion “is our model for approaching…