CAMDENTON, Mo. (ABP) — A refinancing agreement with a bank means private development will move forward on land adjacent to Missouri Baptists' Windermere Baptist Conference Center. Corporate representative Jerry Hill confirmed Oct. 25 that a foreclosure notice has been served…
Crapa, USCIRF director, dies; Land re-appointed to panel
WASHINGTON (ABP) – The director of a unique federal panel charged with promoting religious freedom worldwide has died after a struggle with cancer. Joseph Crapa, executive director of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, died Oct. 25, according…
Missouri convention overwhelmingly rejects Moran-allied candidates
OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (ABP) — For the first time in eight years, messengers to the Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting have rejected a slate of officer candidates allied with an organized fundamentalist faction. Meeting Oct. 29-31 at a resort on…
Opinion: God exists. The real question is, do you?
Christopher Hitchins has been barnstorming the country of late promoting his most recent book, god is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, making an argument similar to Richard Dawkins in God is a Delusion. Like the Philistine champion of old,…
Warren challenges Baptists to promote peace worldwide, starting in Texas
AMARILLO, Texas (ABP) — Developing a heart for missions can be simple, according to best-selling author and California pastor Rick Warren. “If you want the blessing of God in your life, the power of God in your life, the anointing…
Annual meeting of Baptists in Texas sees election of woman, budget approval
AMARILLO, Texas (ABP) — Messengers to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting narrowly elected the first woman president of the state convention — and continued a two-decade string of officers endorsed by the moderate Texas Baptists Committed organization….
Tennessee Baptists gear up for struggle over trustees
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (ABP) — Tennessee Baptists are gearing up to fight a battle that most Southern Baptist state conventions finished a decade ago. Many of the state's moderates feel it is no longer worth fighting. Nonetheless, some conservatives and moderates…
Churches mobilize to repair fire damage while investigators search for arsonists
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (ABP) — With 11 of the 20 fires that burned through Southern California contained, churches are turning their attention to disaster relief, while investigators are setting their sights on justice, since officials have announced that at least…
Baptist convention in Texas elects first woman as president
AMARILLO, Texas (ABP) — Messengers to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting narrowly elected the state body's first female president and continued a two-decade string of officers endorsed by the moderate Texas Baptists Committed organization. Joy Fenner, a…
Texas Baptists introduce motion of ‘no confidence’ in board leaders
AMARILLO, Texas (ABP) — A motion expressing “no confidence” in the directors of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, as well as a competing motion objecting to it, were introduced during the Oct. 29 afternoon session at the group's annual…
Criswell’s cupids, Roman gods make waves at legendary auction house
NEW YORK (ABP) — Scantily clad nymphs attended by flower-bearing maidens. Strapping young gallants gently bending over lovers' bosoms. Frolicking cupids surrounded by doves and gilt-edged arrows. The mythological figurines are not exactly the kind of art you'd expect a…
Tennessee church helps Katrina survivor with MS rebuild home, life
ATLANTA (ABP) — When Sonia St. Cyr survived Hurricane Katrina, she called it lucky. When she was flown out of the city during its aftermath, she called it unbelievable. But when she arrived at a Maryville, Tenn., evacuee shelter and…