NASHVILLE (ABP) — Despite pleas from Baptists around the world, there appears little chance Southern Baptist leaders will reverse or delay their plan to withdraw the Southern Baptist Convention from the Baptist World Alliance, the 99-year-old international fellowship it helped…
BWA leaders urge SBC officials to ‘keep Baptist harmony alive’
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — International Baptist leaders from such diverse settings as Australia, Bangladesh, Bulgaria and South Africa are voicing disappointment over a study committee proposal calling for the Southern Baptist Convention to withdraw from the Baptist World Alliance….
Stacy to leave Gardner-Webb for Jacksonville pastorate
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — By a unanimous vote Jan. 11, Wayne Stacy, dean of the divinity school at Gardner-Webb University, will become pastor of a church in Florida. A South Florida native, Stacy, 53, was presented to the 1,600-member Southside…
Some conservative, messianic Jews criticize evangelicals for alliances
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Conservative evangelicals involved in an anti-gay-marriage coalition are drawing fire from some of their ideological and spiritual comrades over associations with a Muslim group. A prominent Southern Baptist and other conservative evangelical leaders have denounced a coalition…
Southern Baptist statesman Albert McClellan dies
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Albert McClellan, a Baptist statesman and executive whose ministry spanned parts of six decades, died in Nashville, Tenn., Jan. 9 after a long illness. He was 91. McClellan worked for the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee…
Former Illinois Baptist president nabbed in prostitution crackdown
BETHALO, Ill. (ABP) — A Southern Baptist and Illinois Baptist leader is scheduled to appear in court in February on a charge that he solicited a prostitute in a carwash parking lot. Charles West, former president of the Illinois Baptist…
Group ranks ‘meanest’ cities in growing ‘hostility’ to homeless
WASHINGTON (ABP) — American cities are becoming increasingly hostile to the plight of the homeless, according to a report by an advocacy group. Almost 70 percent of the cities studied by National Coalition for the Homeless have passed one or…
Spiritual revival is key to ending homelessness, workers say
DALLAS — (ABP) — A personal spiritual revival is the key for homeless individuals to overcome their multitude of issues and get off the street, according to leaders of Christian ministries. Ministries providing food, clothing and job training are effectively…
Conservative Episcopalians meet to provide further shape to network
WOODBRIDGE, Va. (ABP) — A massive gathering of conservative Episcopalians met in a suburb of Washington Jan. 9-10 to encourage each other and further discuss the shape of a new network of churches within the Episcopal Church in the United…
New model for homeless ministry provides long-term hope, real change, leaders say
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — New approaches to helping the homeless population are designed not only to get people warmed and fed but also to help them find jobs and permanent housing. Traditional ministries — which provide meals, clothes and temporary…
Many Americans steer clear of helping homeless people
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Social acceptance and compassion fatigue are leading Americans to leave needy individuals — and efforts to help them — out in the cold, according to leaders. Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless,…
CBF, American Baptists aid Iranian earthquake victims
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the American Baptist Churches are sending relief funds to aid victims of the earthquake that virtually wiped out the Iranian city of Bam. The Dec. 26 temblor killed, according to the U.S….