LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — When refugees arrive in Louisville from lands ravaged by war or famine, it often seems the worst is behind them. Agencies and volunteers surround them with attention — trying to find them jobs, enroll them in…
SBC’s TV network cuts budget in half, lays off 19
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — Nineteen employees of the Southern Baptist broadcasting network learned Sept. 9 their jobs were eliminated as part of a major cost-cutting move that reduces the FamilyNet annual operating budget more than half — from $8.5…
Belmont University wants to elect own trustees, including non-Baptists
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Belmont University trustees have given leaders of the Tennessee Baptist Convention a proposed covenant that would take away the convention's current responsibility of electing trustees for the university. Belmont President Robert Fisher presented the proposal to…
SBC statesman Adrian Rogers to retire from pastorate
CORDOVA, Tenn. (ABP) — Adrian Rogers, prominent pastor and leader of Southern Baptist conservatives, announced he will retire in six months from the church he has led for 32 years. Rogers, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn. a…
Survey indicates Americans support religious freedom but not separation
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A new nationwide survey suggests that Americans love religious freedom but are less avid about the separation of church and state. The Virginia-based Council for America's First Freedom commissioned the survey, which was taken in early August….
Georgia Supreme Court agrees to hear Shorter College appeal
ROME, Ga. (ABP) — The Georgia Supreme Court has agreed to hear Shorter College's appeal of a court's decision in favor of the Georgia Baptist Convention, according to the court clerk's office Sept. 14. A state appeals court ruled March…
Bush businesslike, ‘mainstream’ in handling of faith, insiders say
WASHINGTON (ABP) — While many of President Bush's opponents and critics alike have pointed to his evangelical Christian faith as his defining characteristic, several intimately acquainted with Bush recently told a gathering of journalists the president considers himself in the…
At the intersection of two hurricanes, Lake Wales ponders God’s ways
LAKE WALES, Fla. (ABP) — You could forgive residents of Lake Wales if they feel persecuted, having endured two powerful hurricanes in three weeks' time. The tiny town in Central Florida bears a dubious geographical distinction — where the path…
Palm Beach Atlantic waterlogged as a result of Hurricane Frances
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (ABP) — Most every building on the campus of Palm Beach Atlantic University sustained water damage and one dormitory might be unsalvageable as a result of Hurricane Frances, according to one faculty member. Located in a…
Watching sexual content on TV increases teen sex, study says
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill. (ABP) — A regular diet of TV that's high in sexual content can encourage teenagers to engage in sexual activity sooner, according to a recently released study. Researchers interviewed 1,792 teenagers about their TV viewing habits…
Churches are front and center in proposed BGCT strategy
DALLAS (ABP) — Local churches — not the Baptist General Convention of Texas — command the lion's share of attention in documents that could guide the state convention through the coming decades. The BGCT's proposed mission, vision, values and priority…
Powell tells Senate committee Sudanese situation is ‘genocide’
WASHINGTON (ABP) — In the Bush administration's most powerful statement to date on the situation in the troubled Sudanese province of Darfur, Secretary of State Colin Powell told a Senate committee Sept. 9 that black Africans are being subjected to…