By Bob Allen Kentucky Baptist Convention leaders voted July 17 to hold in escrow Cooperative Program funds earmarked for Campbellsville University after the school changed bylaws to elect its own trustees. Don Mathis, chairman of the convention’s business and finance…
Search for lobbyist’s wife in second week
By Bob Allen A conservative Baptist lobbyist in Missouri has vowed to continue searching for his missing wife, who disappeared July 8 without a trace from their home on a 270-acre family farm an hour south of St. Louis. “Lynn,…
Former church secretary indicted for theft
By Bob Allen A longtime administrative assistant at a Southern Baptist church in Alabama is accused of using a church credit card to make unauthorized personal purchases totaling more than $129,000 in a grand jury indictment alleging theft and fraud….
NC pastors rally for same-sex marriage ban
By Bob Allen A former U.S. Senate candidate and past president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina joined other pastors at a rally at the state capitol July 15 calling on Republican Gov. Pat McCrory to defend the…
Transgender Hobby Lobby employee claims discrimination
By Bob Allen A transgender employee of a Chicago-area Hobby Lobby is suing the Oklahoma City-based craft store chain, claiming discrimination because her employer won’t allow her to use the women’s restroom. Meggan Sommerville, frame-shop manager at a Hobby Lobby…
Campbellsville seeks new relationship with Kentucky Baptists
By Bob Allen Campbellsville University has proposed renegotiating its affiliation with the Kentucky Baptist Convention to phase out nearly $1 million a year in cooperative funding in exchange for more flexibility in trustee appointments and academic freedom. Trustees of the…
BJC, others, oppose religious exemption in non-discrimination order
By Bob Allen The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty joined nearly 100 other civil- and religious-liberty organizations in a letter July 15 urging President Obama to reject calls to exempt religious groups from an upcoming executive order banning discrimination…
Clergy, psychiatrists launch new partnership
By Bob Allen Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy described the important role that spirituality played in his own recovery from alcohol and substance abuse at an inaugural gathering of a new collaboration among psychiatrists and clergy July 11 in Arlington, Va….
Expelled transgender student gets partial win
By Bob Allen A California judge ruled July 11 that a Baptist university was within its rights to expel a transgender student for violating the school’s moral code but went too far in barring her from university-controlled businesses and services…
Kentucky Baptist Convention leaders, Campbellsville University trustees clash
By Bob Allen Eight months after ending ties with Georgetown College, the Kentucky Baptist Convention warned trustees of Campbellsville University that a governance change reportedly up for a vote this week could jeopardize their school’s relationship to the state affiliate…
Jonathan Merritt explores how he took hold of ‘a thread called grace’
In his latest book, faith and culture writer Jonathan Merritt delves into a yearlong inward journey to recover a faith that had grown spiritually dry. ABPnews/Herald asked him what led him to write Jesus Is Better Than You Imagined and…
Richard Land says transgenderism ‘ultimate rebellion’
By Bob Allen Transgenderism is “the ultimate rebellion” against God’s created order, a former Southern Baptist leader said recently in a television interview. Richard Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary near Charlotte, N.C., made the comment June 26 on Newsmax…