By Bob Allen Pro-LGBT Christians attending this week’s Southern Baptist Convention conference on sexuality said they disagreed with much of what they heard in messages from the platform but were encouraged by the tone and their reception at the Oct….
Speakers say holiness, not heterosexuality, goal of outreach to gays
By Bob Allen The goal of ministry to gays and lesbians isn’t to make them heterosexual, three speakers said Oct. 28 at a Southern Baptist Convention-sponsored conference on the gospel and homosexuality. It’s to make them holy. Rosaria Champagne Butterfield,…
ERLC conference drawing diverse crowd
By Bob Allen While speakers at this week’s conference on “The Gospel, Homosexuality and the Future of Marriage” sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission will likely present a united “message of both truth and grace” on…
Music minister charged with child exploitation
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist music minister remains in custody after his Oct. 16 arrest by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force in LaGrange, Ky. Howard Key Chambers, 62, minister of music at DeHaven Baptist Church in La Grange,…
French woman represents Baptists at Catholic synod
By Bob Allen A French woman who attended the recent Synod of Bishops on the Family as a fraternal delegate for the Baptist World Alliance says she found common ground between Baptists and Catholics in issues like care for the…
Former Baptist minister indicted for murder
By Bob Allen A former children’s minister at Southern Baptist churches has been indicted for the murder of his wife 15 months ago in Homewood, Ala., local media reported Oct. 23. The reports cited court documents showing that Richard Shahan,…
Second vote on Brewton-Parker accreditation due in December
By Bob Allen An appeals committee affirmed a decision by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges in June to terminate the accreditation of Brewton-Parker College but determined new financial information supplied by the college warranted keeping the…
Seminary trustees clear president in Muslim student flap
By Bob Allen Trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary affirmed President Paige Patterson Oct. 22 after investigating concerns about his decision to allow a Muslim student to enroll in the Southern Baptist Convention entity’s Ph.D. program. A statement by the…
New Baptist Covenant gets $1 million gift
By Bob Allen A Texas foundation started by Sysco founder and Baptist layman John Baugh has pledged $1 million over four years for operating expenses of a movement spearheaded by former President Jimmy Carter to unify U.S. Baptists across racial,…
‘Third Way’ pastor says disunity bigger problem than homosexuality
By Bob Allen The pastor of a church recently kicked out of the Southern Baptist Convention says disunity in the church is a bigger hindrance to evangelism than tolerating differing views about homosexuality. Danny Cortez, teaching pastor at New Heart…
SNAP says SBC leader poor choice for prayer chairman
By Bob Allen A national support group for clergy sex-abuse victims called on the National Day of Prayer Task Force to reconsider its choice for 2015 honorary chairman because of unanswered questions about his handling of abuse allegations in the…
U.S. prof on loan to Liberia for 2 more years
By Bob Allen A Mercer University professor’s one-year assignment as interim president of a Baptist seminary in Liberia has been extended through 2016. Richard Wilson, chair of the Christianity department at Mercer’s main campus in Macon, Ga., arrived Jan. 4…