Associated Baptist Press The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is offering free, one-day workshops for clergy in rural areas on how to minister to needs of veterans in their communities. Six training events are scheduled between April 10 and June…
Bill McConnell nominated for CBF moderator-elect
Associated Baptist Press A Knoxville, Tenn., layman has been nominated as moderator-elect of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Bill McConnell Bill McConnell, immediate past deacon chair at Knoxville’s Central Baptist Church of Bearden, will be recommended for election at the CBF General…
Drayton McLane funds Baylor football stadium
Associated Baptist Press Baylor University announced March 13 receipt of its largest capital gift in history from Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane and his wife, Elizabeth. The amount was not specified, but the donation was described as a “leadership gift”…
Long-time WMU leader Helen Fling dies
Associated Baptist Press Helen Fling, 97, a longtime leader in Woman’s Missionary Union, died March 1. Her memorial service was March 6 at Mountain Brook Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. The wife of Pastor Robert Fling, she was president of…
Baptist Standard Publishing launches test phase of FaithVillage site
Associated Baptist Press The website is a new ministry of Baptist Standard Publishing, parent company of the Baptist Standard. The 123-year-old organization will continue to publish the newspaper and its digital news products. FaithVillage.com will provide Christian community and an…
Veteran Baptist communicator Lloyd Householder dies
Associated Baptist Press Lloyd Householder, 82, a veteran Southern Baptist denominational worker and communicator, died Jan. 30. Householder worked 32 years for the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board, now called LifeWay Christian Resources, before retiring in 1992 as assistant vice…
Analysis: Churches, ministries provide refuge to victims of human trafficking
Many Christians see the eradication of human trafficking in the United States as a complex and daunting problem. But that doesn’t mean they are letting the enormity of the challenge scare them away. During the last session of the Texas…
Former congressman named to Baylor chair
By Lori Fogleman Former U.S. Congressman Chet Edwards has been appointed the W.R. Poage Distinguished Chair for Public Service at Baylor University. Edwards, who represented parts of central and north Texas in Congress from 1990 to 2011, will serve the…
Francis McBeth, world-renowned composer, dies at 78
W. Francis McBeth, an internationally acclaimed composer and conductor and longtime professor of music at Ouachita Baptist University, died Friday, Jan. 6, at age 78. Francis McBeth McBeth, who earned extensive accolades throughout his career, served as Ouachita’s composer-in-residence, Lena…
Scholar says Christmas as ‘celebration of domesticity’ a modern invention
LONDON (ABP) – As churches alter or cancel worship services this weekend because Christmas this year falls on Sunday, a Baptist theologian in the United Kingdom says the way the holiday is celebrated is relatively new. Stephen Holmes Stephen Holmes,…
BWA, SBC leaders meet for first time since 2004
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) – Leaders of the Baptist World Alliance traveled to Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 19 to meet with leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, a founding member of the BWA that withdrew in 2004 over theological differences. Initiated…
Baptist pastor delivers 200,000 signatures to Lowe’s
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (ABP) – Lowe’s officials met Dec. 20 with a group of ministers who hand-delivered more than 200,000 petition signatures protesting the company’s decision to pull its advertising from a television show criticized by a conservative Christian group for…