RURAL HALL, N.C. (ABP) — A tough decision to close its day care center after 20 years prompted a small North Carolina church to establish a center for senior adults in a mid-state area with a high number of seniors…
Three die at Joplin church hit by tornado
JOPLIN, Mo. (ABP) — At least two Missouri Baptist churches are among the scores of institutions, businesses and homes destroyed when one of 68 reported tornadoes that swept across the Midwest on Sunday struck Joplin, Mo. Police in Joplin check through…
Historical Society celebrates Baptists’ ‘singing faith’ with hymn festival
RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) – This year’s gathering of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society was atypically melodic, featuring a hymn festival May 17 celebrating hymnody in various genres. Fred Anderson, the society’s executive director, said the hymn singing at Grace Baptist…
Former IMB chair nominated as Kentucky exec
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) – A past chairman of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board who supports changing the Cooperative Program unified budget to send more money to overseas mission fields will be nominated as next executive director-treasurer of the Kentucky…
Panel finds defining ‘Baptist university’ not a simple task
DALLAS (ABP) — The answer to “What is a Baptist university?” is complex and nuanced, according to panelists assembled by the Baptist History & Heritage Society. They spent the better part of a morning discussing the question, examining it from…
Unlikely allies weave myth of Christian America, historian says
DALLAS (ABP) — A seemingly unlikely alliance between conservative Christian evangelicals and Mormons recasts American history as the founding of a distinctively Christian republic, Stephen Stookey told a gathering of church historians. Self-styled historian David Barton and conservative provocateur Glenn…
Scholar finds Gardner-Webb open to diversity
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. (ABP) – A predominantly white Baptist college in rural North Carolina might seem an unlikely place to find an urban African-American pastor from California known for an agenda of prophetic justice, but Gardner-Webb University just said goodbye…
Judge dismisses most of suit challenging Tennessee mosque
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (ABP) – A judge has thrown out most of a lawsuit seeking to halt construction of a mosque on the outskirts of Murfreesboro, Tenn. Chancellor Robert Corlew III ruled this week that 17 plaintiffs challenging zoning approval for…
Wellness responsibility of both minister and church
HERNDON, Va. (ABP)—Most congregations know healthier clergy lead to healthier churches, but few consider how clergy wellness and congregational busy-ness are related, said Larry Golemon, an ordained Presbyterian minister and former research manager at the Alban Institute. “Clergy wellness can…