OLNEY, Ky. (ABP) — Lafayette Baptist Church, a rural Kentucky congregation that dates back to the late 1800s, lost its church facility in an apparent arson attack May 20. The fire, reportedly set early Saturday morning, was not discovered until…
Baptist groups send workers, supplies, funds to help victims of Java quake
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (ABP) — Several Baptist groups have joined the worldwide outpouring of support for victims of a deadly 6.3-magnitude earthquake, which killed more than 5,700 people May 27. More than 200,000 people remain homeless, according to the Indonesian government….
Ex-IMB missionaries find funding, return to Brazilian mission field
DALLAS (ABP) — Don and Angie Finley, Southern Baptist missionaries since 1988, resigned from their post in Brazil in July 2003 and returned to the United States rather than affirm the denomination's new, more conservative doctrinal statement. Now — three…
Couples married for 50-plus years offer advice in church celebration
HOUSTON (ABP) — It not only takes a village to raise a child; it takes a village to make marriage successful, some long-married Baptist couples said. Members of Houston's Tallowood Baptist Church agreed, and they recently honored 139 couples from…
Pastoral counseling a vital part of wedding plans, pastors say
ATHENS, Texas (ABP) — Like many pastors nationwide, Kyle Henderson finds great fulfillment in conducting weddings and preparing couples for marriage. And he treasures thank-you notes he receives from couples — particularly the ones he refused to marry. The wedding…
Texas law professor assigned to Rio Grande church-start probe
HOUSTON (ABP) — The Baptist General Convention of Texas has engaged Brownsville attorney Diane Dillard to investigate alleged mishandling of church-starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley. Suspicions involve church starts in the lower Rio Grande Valley from 1996 to…
Fashion, faith promote success for down-and-out women
ALBERTVILLE, Ala. (ABP) — For Jean Cullen, the national coordinator of the Christian Women's Job Corps, success starts on the inside — and must be reflected on the outside as well. Cullen, who heads the national organization aimed at teaching…
Beefed-up NC policy would oust churches that tolerate gay members
ASHEBORO, N.C. (ABP) — Leaders of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention have beefed up a policy designed to oust local churches that affirm homosexuality or even tolerate gay church members. Meeting in Asheboro, N.C., the convention's executive committee and…
Executive Committee backs down from 10% target for SBC officers
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has amended a recommendation that the convention encourage the election of SBC officers “whose churches give at least 10 percent of their undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program.” The move…
NC may change trustee nominations; new executive urges ‘one more try’
ASHEBORO, N.C. (ABP) — North Carolina Baptist leaders endorsed a plan to grant agencies of that Baptist convention more control over who is nominated as their trustees and directors — an issue that has prompted a lot of controversy in…
Burleson won’t accept suspension, plans to expose trustee ‘violations’
ENID, Okla (ABP) — Wade Burleson, the embattled blogging trustee of the International Mission Board, has been suspended from attending closed-door meetings of the board. But the Oklahoma pastor says he will not obey his suspension, setting up yet another…
UPDATED: Calvinist pastor, Georgia evangelist likely to square off as 1st VP nomination
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A neo-Calvinist may face an evangelist for first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention this summer — in addition to the meeting's contested presidential race. Mark Dever, pastor of Washington's Capitol Hill Baptist Church and a…