WASHINGTON (ABP) — A report from the Internal Revenue Service determined that nearly three quarters of the churches and other charities it investigated violated federal tax laws during the 2004 election. The report, released Feb. 24 by a special IRS…
Government agrees to stop funding controversial abstinence program
BOSTON (ABP) — The federal government will stop funding a teen-abstinence program that bills itself as an “evangelistic ministry” and gives teenagers silver rings inscribed with a Bible passage. The American Civil Liberties Union, which in May sued the Department…
Baylor administrator Brumley follows Underwood to Mercer
MACON, Ga. (ABP) — Baylor University administrator Larry Brumley has been named senior vice president and chief of staff at Mercer University — following incoming president Bill Underwood, also a former Baylor administrator, to the Georgia school. Underwood, former law…
North Carolina leader resigns over conservative changes
BOONVILLE, N.C. (ABP) — The recent conservative shift in the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina has prompted one member of its governing board to resign, saying the state convention is “becoming a subsidiary of the Southern Baptist Convention.” Ken…
Alabama church finds movie theater spurs growth in student ministry
TRUSSVILLE, Ala. (ABP) — It's a typical scene at the Regal 16 Cinemas in Trussville, Ala. Teenagers are milling around and loud music blasts from one of the theaters in the complex. A bus pulls up to the curb to…
Stallings, pastor singled out in King’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail,’ dies
LAKELAND, Fla. (ABP) — A white Baptist pastor who was made both famous and infamous by Martin Luther King Jr.'s legendary “Letter From Birmingham Jail” has died. Earl Stallings, who was pastor of Birmingham's First Baptist Church when King penned…
Campbell divinity program to equip students for ministry, counseling
BUIES CREEK, N.C. (ABP) — Campbell University's Divinity School and School of Education have teamed up to form a new degree — the master of divinity/master of arts in community counseling. The program is unusual in that it combines theological…
Congressmen ask Treasury officials to explain new Cuba travel rules
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A bipartisan group of congressmen is asking the United States Treasury Department to explain why it has instituted new policies that could severely limit Americans' religious and humanitarian travel to Cuba. The letter, which began circulating to…
Central Seminary announces plans to find new campus
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (ABP) — One hundred and five years after it became the first Baptist seminary west of the Mississippi River, Central Baptist Theological Seminary has announced plans to move, mostly to help defer rising maintenance costs on its…
Shiloh Network to help churches become more ‘reproductive’
DURHAM, N.C. (ABP) — Moderate Baptists and mules have a lot in common. Both are strong and hard-working, and both have problems reproducing — at least according to Curtis Freeman. But a nationwide network of churches is banding together to…
Pastoral misconduct about power, ethics panelists say
WACO, Texas (ABP) – Sexual misconduct occurs among ministers at a rate higher than among other trusted professions such as doctors and lawyers, Joe Trull told ministers at an ethics conference at Baylor University's Truett Seminary. At its heart, sexual…
First Baptist of Jacksonville elects Brunson as pastor
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.. (ABP) – First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Fla., has elected Donald McCall “Mac” Brunson as pastor, confirming speculation about a leadership change in one of the nation's largest congregations. Brunson, 48, preached in the Feb. 19 Sunday morning…