KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (ABP) — The famous towel producer Charles Cannon built First Baptist Church in Kannapolis, N.C., when Cannon Mills provided both engine and fuel for the aging textile town 27 miles north of Charlotte. He wanted a good church…
Soccer league opens church door for family
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (ABP) — When the soccer season sponsored and funded by First Baptist Church in Kannapolis, N.C., began to wind down, Chris and Jennifer Roman realized they were going to miss the new friends they found while mingling with…
Young Texas pastor found dead
Clint Dobson ARLINGTON, Texas (ABP) — A 28-year-old Baptist pastor and Truett Seminary graduate was found dead and his 67-year-old ministry assistant severely beaten inside their church on Thursday afternoon, March 3. Police haven't released a cause of death for…
Attention to anti-gay protest group worries fellow Baptists
VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) – A tiny independent Kansas congregation composed mostly of extended family members of founding pastor Fred Phelps captured headlines March 2 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 their controversial “God Hates Fags” protests at funerals…
Supreme Court sides with Westboro Baptist Church
WASHINGTON (ABP) – The United States Supreme Court ruled 8-1 on March 2 that anti-gay protests outside of military funerals by a controversial Kansas Baptist church clan are protected speech under the First Amendment. The ruling overturned a jury decision…
Evelyn Stagg, role model for Baptist women in ministry, dies at 96
Evelyn Stagg LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) – Evelyn Stagg, a trailblazer for Southern Baptist women in ministry, died Feb. 28. She was 96. Born Evelyn Owen in Ruston, La., she was married for 66 years to Frank Stagg, a professor at…
BTSR considering merger with Chowan University
MURFREESBORO, N.C. (ABP) – Cash-strapped Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond is considering a merger with Chowan University, a 162-year-old North Carolina Baptist school 99 miles south of the seminary’s Richmond, Va., campus, in hopes of solving lingering financial problems made…
Oeita Bottorff, SBC moderate leader, dies
DALLAS (ABP) – A key leader in the moderate response to the Southern Baptist Convention inerrancy controversy in the 1980s died Feb. 25 after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. Oeita Theunissen, 87, known professionally and in church leadership as…
HBU trustees plan to reconsider non-Baptists on board
HOUSTON (ABP) — Houston Baptist University trustees plan to revisit the matter of allowing non-Baptist Christians on the school’s governing board. In a Feb. 27 e-mail to directors of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board, Associate Executive Director…