WASHINGTON (ABP) — Nearly 200 years after William Wilberforce brought an end to England's slave trade, a wide audience will have a chance to see his story told on film. But the producers of Amazing Grace — and a wide…
Ousted Texas church planter says race factored into investigation
DALLAS (ABP) — Otto Arango, the central figure in an investigation that revealed misuse and mismanagement of Texas Baptist church-starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley, was singled out for suspicion because he was a financially successful Hispanic from the…
Bob Agee to leave director post at Baptist college association
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Bob Agee has announced his retirement as executive director of the International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities. The move will become effective at the association's June 2007 annual meeting or “as soon thereafter as a…
Women take pulpits nationwide for sponsored day of preaching
ATLANTA (ABP) — Forty-five churches across the country invited women into their pulpits Feb. 4 for the Martha Stearns Marshall Day of Preaching. Baptist Women in Ministry sponsored the event to celebrate women and educate congregations about women in ministry….
Local missions gain prominence as Baptist churches join blitz
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Operation Inasmuch, the one-day missions blitz organization that started at a Baptist church in Fayetteville, N.C., became a national ministry Jan. 30. David Crocker, who was pastor of Fayetteville's Snyder Memorial Baptist Church when Operation Inasmuch was…
Opinion: Time for a national death-penalty moratorium
In a move that received very little attention, Gov. Phil Bredesen recently suspended all executions in Tennessee until May, pending a full review of what he called our “sloppy” execution procedures. The governor is to be commended for this brave…
Consultant says salvation is wholeness, not just ‘point-of-sale’ transaction
CONOVER, N.C. (ABP) — Despite decades of tweaking evangelistic methods, there is little evidence that many Christians are experiencing true life change, Ron Martoia told church leaders Jan. 29. Perhaps, the church consultant said, that failure is because Christians in…
Study says teen faith shaped more by hands-on ministry than worship
WACO, Texas (ABP) — Serving meals to homeless people at a church-sponsored shelter can have a greater impact than sitting in a pew every Sunday morning on how a teenager's faith develops, a new study has concluded. “Involvement in community…
Experts on both sides of ‘ex-gay’ debate skeptical about Haggard cure claim
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Claims by one of Ted Haggard's spiritual overseers that he is now “100 percent heterosexual” should be taken with a significant grain of salt, according to experts with differing opinions on the value of “ex-gay” or sexual-reorientation…
Accurate definition of ‘evangelical’ up for debate in theology, politics
DALLAS (ABP) — One out of every four adults who call themselves “evangelical” is not a “born-again” Christian, according to a recent report from the Barna Group. And that's just the beginning of the confusion surrounding the term “evangelical.” For…
Gay-friendly NC church invites investigation; ouster now likely
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) — A church in Charlotte has turned itself in to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, admitting it is in violation of the convention's stance against homosexuality. The deacons at Myers Park Baptist Church sent an…
Baptist mission workers killed in bus crash in Honduras
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (ABP) — Three Americans on a mission trip in Honduras were killed in a truck crash Feb. 6. Ten other people were injured when the truck flipped on a remote mountain road, authorities said. Two of the deceased…