CYPRESS, Texas (ABP) – A Texas youth minister already charged with statutory rape of a 16-year-old was arrested Dec. 14 for allegedly sending inappropriate text messages and videos to a 14-year-old girl he met while serving at a Southern Baptist…
SNAP protests pharmacy license for accused predator
CLINTON, Miss. (ABP) – A support group for victims of sexual abuse by clergy is calling on a state pharmacy board to revoke a license recently issued to a former music minister awaiting trial on eight charges of felony gratification…
Group says Southern Baptists oppose religious equality in the military
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (ABP) – A group dedicated to separation of church and state in the armed forces charged that Southern Baptists are against religious equality after an article compared its work at the U.S. Air Force Academy to “a mission…
Alleged peeping evangelist charged in third town
WALDRON, Ark. (ABP) – A traveling Southern Baptist evangelist and former camp pastor for LifeWay Christian Resources faces new charges of video voyeurism in a third mid-South community. Sammy Nuckolls WMC-TV in Memphis, Tenn., reported Dec. 15 that an arrest…
Pastor describes ‘reform’ of Baptist church
WASHINGTON (ABP) – A North Carolina pastor shares his decade-old story of getting rid of women deacons and instituting elder rule at his Southern Baptist congregation in an on-line journal issue devoted to “revitalize” and “reform” of declining churches. Andrew…
Hardage nominated for BGCT executive director
DALLAS (ABP) — David Hardage — a veteran Texas Baptist pastor, associational leader and seminary development officer — will be nominated as the next executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Ron Lyles of Pasadena, Texas, chair of…
NAE releases paper on climate, poverty
WASHINGTON (ABP) – The National Association of Evangelicals released a document Dec. 14 about changes to the environment and how they affect the poor. The 56-page discussion paper, “Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment,” explores why evangelicals…
Mohler defends Virgin Birth
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) – A Southern Baptist seminary president says Christians who deny the Virgin Birth aren’t really Christians at all. In a blog commentary reposted annually since it first appeared in 2006, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler…
Church-state group says proposed hospital merger unconstitutional
WASHINGTON (ABP) – Americans United for Separation of Church and State said Dec. 14 that a proposed hospital merger in Louisville, Ky., is unconstitutional and urged Gov. Steve Beshear to block it. Leaders of the church-state watchdog organization say if…