RALEIGH, N.C. (ABP) – Members of a North Carolina Baptist church voted unanimously Nov. 20 to stop performing civil marriages until it becomes legal for same-sex couples to wed. Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., says current state law…
Low attendance disappoints New Baptist Covenant planners
ATLANTA (ABP) – Planners of the Nov. 17-19 New Baptist Covenant gatherings were disappointed with attendance but pleased with the diversity and quality of presentations, one of the organizers said Nov. 21. “We had hoped for a larger attendance,” said…
SBC leader says churches not immune from ‘anti-child culture’
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) – Richard Land, the Southern Baptist Convention’s top spokesman on moral concerns, says the Penn State sexual abuse scandal is symptomatic of a larger “anti-child culture” in the United States, and that churches are not immune. During…
Panel: Churches need to take lead in race relations
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ABP) — Churches too often have trailed society at large in terms of embracing racial and ethnic diversity, a multiethnic panel told a regional New Baptist Covenant II gathering in San Antonio. “I believe what we see on…
OKC New Baptist Covenant takes aim at payday lending
OKLAHOMA CITY (ABP) — Payday lending traps many of America’s working poor in a vortex of debt, participants at the New Baptist Covenant II satellite meeting in Oklahoma City learned. Each New Baptist Covenant facility focused on a mission project,…
Jimmy Carter notes progress in building Baptist unity
ATLANTA (ABP) – Former President Jimmy Carter told veteran journalist Bob Abernethy that he’s seen progress in areas that prompted him to convene a New Baptist Covenant gathering in 2008 and New Baptist Covenant II gatherings scattered across nine locations…
New Baptist Covenant speakers proclaim ‘release’ to captives
ATLANTA (ABP) – Baptists must view prison ministry as more than prayer meetings and Bible studies if they are to follow Jesus’ Luke 4 mandate to “proclaim liberty to the captives,” former Arkansas Appeals Court Justice and Baptist pastor Wendell…
Diverse Baptists gather around shared concerns
ATLANTA (ABP) – Baptists laid aside differences of race, geography and tradition to affirm common values of care for the poor and marginalized in Atlanta and satellite locations across the United States Nov. 17. Jimmy Carter gives formal welcome at…
International social work program gets major gift
WACO, Texas (ABP) – Baylor University’s School of Social Work has received a $3.6 million gift for a program for international students pursuing a master’s degree in social work. First funded by a grant in 2008, the Global Mission Leadership…