MOORE, Okla. (ABP) — Messengers to the annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma Nov. 12-13 passed a resolution emphasizing non-discriminating ministry to illegal immigrants and adopted a record budget of $24.6 million. “Finishing the Task” was the…
State resolutions focus on alcohol, gambling, homosexuality, abuse
WASHINTON (ABP) — The pleasures of the flesh — specifically liquor and sex — were among the most popular subjects of resolutions passed by Southern Baptist-affiliated state conventions this fall. Although many state conventions avoided resolutions on controversial issues of…
Mississippi Baptists enjoy peaceful annual meeting
JACKSON, Miss. (ABP) — Messengers to the 2007 annual meeting of the Mississippi Baptist Convention elected a president by acclamation for the fifth year in a row and adopted a record budget Oct. 30-31. Meeting at First Baptist Church of…
Some denounce Florida Baptist move requiring teetotaling from leaders
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (ABP) – Baptist critics are calling the Florida Baptist Convention's move to require alcohol abstinence from members of its boards and committees misguided. The new measure was easily approved by the 1,258 messengers attending the annual meeting,…
Bioethics: How far is too far when trying to ‘be fruitful and multiply’?
NEW YORK (ABP) — In Brazil, a 51-year-old woman gave birth to her own twin grandchildren. She used embryos from her 27-year-old daughter, who had tried for four years to conceive. In January, a Texas-based “human embryo bank” announced prospective…
Workers bring clean water, love of Christ to Ethiopia
ATLANTA (ABP) — Nearly 75 percent of Ethiopians — about 55 million people — don't have access to clean water. And according to missionary workers there, it's a crisis not discussed often enough. Many Ethiopians are forced to drink from…
Seven N.C. colleges to give scholarships to children of CBF missionaries
GREENSBORO, N.C. (ABP) — Seven Baptist colleges and universities in North Carolina will offer undergraduate tuition scholarships for children of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missionaries. The schools, all of which are Baptist-affiliated, are Campbell University in Buies Creek, Chowan University in…
Bioethics: Christian consensus lacking on end-of-life issues, professor says
BROWNWOOD, Texas (ABP) — When it comes to questions concerning end-of-life issues, the answers sometimes don't come any easier for Christians than they do for other people. While each year the Southern Baptist Convention devotes Sunday school lesson material to…
South Carolina Baptists OK move toward 50-50 CP split
FLORENCE, S.C. (ABP) — South Carolina Baptists have approved budget projections that will gradually result in the state convention forwarding 50 percent of all undesignated receipts to the Southern Baptist Convention. Messengers at the South Carolina Baptist Convention meeting, held…
Louisiana Baptists pass measure taking full control of institutions
ALEXANDRIA, La. (ABP) — Messengers to the Louisiana Baptist Convention annual meeting Nov. 12-13 passed without discussion a measure that ensures the convention has complete control of its college and other affiliated institutions. The measure amended the charter of convention-related…
Critics: Doctrinal standard leaves evangelical society ‘exposed’
SAN DIEGO (ABP) – To its critics, the current doctrinal standard of the Evangelical Theological Society is as skimpy as a bikini. And two of the society's members have put forth a proposal to tighten the document into a more…
Longtime Baptist statesman Wayne Dehoney dies at 89
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — Former Southern Baptist Convention President Wayne Dehoney, longtime pastor of Walnut Street Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., died Nov. 15. He was 89. Dehoney, who served at Walnut Street from 1967 to 1985, was SBC president…