MOUNT VERNON, Mo. — Southern gospel music singer and songwriter Dottie Rambo, 74, was killed when her tour bus ran off a highway near Mount Vernon, Mo., May 11. She was en route to an engagement in Texas after performing…
Gay marriage moves ahead in Calif. after state Supreme Court ruling
SAN FRANCISCO (ABP) — Sixty years after their predecessors handed down a landmark decision allowing interracial marriages, the California Supreme Court justices May 15 did the same for same-sex marriage, overturning a statewide ban on the controversial practice. The decision…
Three Baptist universities rank high in new survey
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Three Baptist universities were listed among the top 50 national universities in a new results-based ranking by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP), based in Washington. The two-year-old nonprofit organization ranked Wake Forest University at…
Analysis: ‘Evangelical Manifesto’ draws praise, critique from across Baptist life
WASHINGTON (ABP) — If the authors of “An Evangelical Manifesto,” released May 7, aimed to inspire conversation and self-reflection among their kindred, they certainly succeeded. Among Baptists at the intersection of faith and public life, the conversation and reflection have…
Fellowship announces formal partnership with Ghana Baptist Convention
ATLANTA (ABP) — Leaders from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Ghana Baptist Convention recently signed a memorandum of understanding, representing an official partnership between the organizations and churches that partner with them. For many years, Fellowship partner churches and…
Blogging Baptists: Blogs only latest battleground for historical Baptist contention
WASHINGTON (ABP) — One classic joke about Baptists is that wherever two or three are gathered, there are four opinions among them. The same can probably be said of bloggers, and Baptists seem to have taken to the blog medium…
Blogging Baptists: As many motivations for blogging as there are bloggers
DALLAS (ABP) — For some people, blogs are like a family reunion where people barely know each other. There's a lot of talking going on, but there's little agreement on much of anything. But for many of the increasing number…
Baptists mobilize relief efforts after Mother’s Day tornadoes
(ABP) – Various Baptist disaster-relief groups began mobilizing chainsaw teams and feeding units May 12 to assist victims of deadly tornadoes that tore across the Midwest and Southeast Mother's Day weekend. The storms claimed the lives of at least 22…
CBF to commission 18 missionaries under new online cohort process
ATLANTA (ABP) – An innovative missionary-training process has produced 18 new Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missions personnel, who will be commissioned June 18 during the group's General Assembly in Memphis, Tenn. The appointees are the first to apply through CBF's new…
Blogging Baptists: Guidelines for ethical blogging? Start with the New Testament
(ABP) — The New Testament book of James compares the tongue to raging fire and a wild beast that cannot be tamed. And the author of that book never was “flamed” on a blog, in a chat room or on…
Longtime Baptist musician, seminary professor dies
ORANGE PARK, Fla. (ABP) — Longtime Baptist hymn writer and music professor Hugh McElrath passed away May 8 at his winter home in Penney Farms, Fla. He also resided in Louisville, Ky. He was 86. McElrath was a professor of…
Children from FLDS compound praise Texas Baptist agency
SAN ANGELO, Texas (ABP) — Although Texas officials have taken some criticism for removing hundreds of children from a religious compound, the Baptist agency caring for them has earned praise from the most important people: the children themselves. Baptist Child…