By Bob Allen The White House announced March 13 that Melissa Rogers, a Baptist church-state specialist who formerly worked at the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, will serve as special assistant to the president and director of the Office…
CJ Mahaney leaving SGM post
By Bob Allen A leader in a resurgent Calvinism movement popular among Southern Baptists is resigning from a church-planting network he helped launch 30 years ago amid reports of internal strife and a lawsuit alleging a cover-up of sexual and…
Poll: Gay-marriage right not absolute
By Bob Allen A majority of American adults view same-sex marriage as a civil-rights issue and nearly two-thirds believe it is inevitable that it will become legal throughout the United States, but opinions vary about what those rights should entail,…
Clergy press for assault-weapon ban
By Bob Allen More than 4,000 congregational leaders have signed an open letter to U.S. senators urging them to pass comprehensive gun violence prevention legislation. The letter calls for legislation that includes a ban on assault weapons and high capacity…
Church calls cops on inquiring member
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist megachurch reportedly filed a police report on a church member who raised questions about news stories alleging that nearly 25 years ago leaders of the congregation failed to alert authorities about credible accusations of…
Woman named pastor of historic church
By Bob Allen The 222-year-old Hampton Baptist Church has called Elizabeth “Betty” Pugh Mills as senior pastor, making it likely the largest Baptist church in Virginia led by a woman pastor. The 1,100-member church (about 500 active) voted March 3…
Study questions divorce’s impact on faith
By Bob Allen A Baylor sociology professor says research linking parental divorce to rising numbers of young adults identified as “spiritual but not religious” or the “nones” may be overstated. Jeremy Uecker, an assistant professor of sociology at Baylor, and…
Ethicist Glen Stassen wins BWA award
By Bob Allen Ethicist Glen Stassen has been named the 2013 recipient of the Baptist World Alliance Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award. The award, approved March 5 during a meeting of the BWA executive committee in Falls Church,…
ABC, CBF explore closer ties
By Bob Allen Leaders of American Baptist Churches USA and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship met recently in Philadelphia and Atlanta to explore closer cooperation between the two groups, interim Coordinator Pat Anderson told the CBF Coordinating Council Feb. 22. Anderson…
Texas House honors Suzii Paytner
By Bob Allen The Texas legislature honored incoming Cooperative Baptist Fellowship leader Suzii Paynter Feb. 28 with a House resolution recognizing her advocacy work on numerous social issues during more than a decade of service with Texas Baptists. The resolution…
Female Baptist minister resigns
By Bob Allen A woman whose call as a pastor in 2011 sparked controversy in an association of Baptist churches in North Carolina has resigned, citing a lack of consensus among members about the congregation’s vision and direction for the…
Institute to study black-on-black crime
By Bob Allen Arkansas Baptist College honored the memory of a student murdered last year by dedicating a new research center March 1 bearing his name to address the problem of black-on-black violence in America’s cities. The new Derek Olivier…