SEOUL, South Korea (ABP) — Korean megachurch pastor and evangelist Billy Kim, outgoing president of the Baptist World Alliance, retired Dec. 19 after 45 years as senior pastor of Suwon Central Baptist Church near Seoul, South Korea. Since becoming pastor…
American volunteers brighten faces of orphans in Kenya
NAIROBI, Kenya (ABP) — Marlene Grant put her arms around Teresia Ngao and helped the little girl cut out figures of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. A smile crossed Teresia's face as each character dropped to the table with the…
Baptist statesman James Sullivan, 94, former Sunday School Board head, dies
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — James Sullivan, Southern Baptist statesman and retired president of the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, died Dec. 27 at a Nashville hospice following a brief illness. He was 94. A memorial service was…
Baptist groups rush to respond to Asian tsunami disaster
WASHINGTON (ABP) — As the death toll surged past 70,000 in one of modern history's worst cataclysms, Baptist groups from around the world rushed to help survivors of the Dec. 26 South Asian tsunami disaster. Press reports on the afternoon…
Cutting money for BWA ‘opens door’ for fund-raising, McCall says
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (ABP) — While Morris Chapman says the fact retired Southern Baptist Convention leaders are now raising money for the Baptist World Alliance from SBC churches is “astounding and regrettable,” one of his predecessors as SBC chief…
Baptists work to counteract effects of damaging toxin in Mexico
DALLAS (ABP) — In the isolated villages of Ojo Caliente County in Mexico's Zacatecas state, children ride bicycles up and down small strips of concrete. Their friends spontaneously erupt in laughter during a soccer match on a small dirt field….
Missouri Baptist Convention attorneys file briefs in court of appeals
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP) — The Missouri Baptist Convention has filed an appeal in its ongoing legal battle with five affiliated entities. The MBC continues to seek to overturn revised charters for The Baptist Home, Missouri Baptist University, Missouri Baptist…
SBC leaders decline to join new ecumenical group
ATLANTA (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention will not join a new ecumenical group designed to bring Catholic, Orthodox, mainline Protestant and evangelical Christians together, according to news reports. A spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board…
Poll shows 44 percent of Americans would curtail Muslims’ civil rights
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Nearly half of all Americans would curtail the civil rights of Muslim-Americans in some way, according to a new survey. In the name of combating potential terrorism, 44 percent of respondents to a Cornell University survey said…
Honeycutt, former Southern Seminary president, dies after accident at home
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — Roy Honeycutt, retired president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, died Dec. 21, one day after suffering head injuries in a fall at his home in Louisville, Ky. He was 78. Honeycutt, a noted Old Testament scholar,…
Bush administration, Baptist Joint Committee file briefs in Ten Commandments cases
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Two friend-of-the-court briefs filed recently in the U.S. Supreme Court present differing views on the role of the Ten Commandments in American history and whether government entities can display them. The Bush administration, represented by the Justice…
SBC snub of BWA, missionaries’ murder top stories of 2004, Baptist editors say
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention's withdrawal from the Baptist World Alliance was the top Baptist news story of 2004, according to a survey of journalists. The murder of four SBC missionaries in Iraq was the second most…