By Bob Allen The “conservative resurgence” that transformed the Southern Baptist Convention three decades ago began in the halls of Second Baptist Church in Houston, the movement’s chief architect told seminary students April 15. Paul Pressler, a former Texas Appeals…
CBF, SBC leaders meet with president
By Bob Allen Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter and Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission president Russell Moore were among a small group of faith leaders who met in the Oval Office April 15 to discuss immigration…
Louisiana College to seek new president
By Bob Allen Rather than losing his job or getting a contract extension, an embattled Baptist college president in Louisiana will return to the classroom with an honorary title and trustees will search for a new president to replace him….
N.C. church, first to ordain a woman, calls its first female pastor
By Bob Allen A North Carolina church credited with opening doors for women in ministry by ordaining the first Southern Baptist woman to the gospel ministry 50 years ago lifted its own stained-glass ceiling April 6 by choosing a female…
Diverse groups defend clergy tax break
By Bob Allen Christians, Jews, Muslims and Hindus may have different ideas about God, but they all agree on a tax break for clergy under attack by an atheist group that says it discriminates against the non-religious. Interests diverse as…
Starbucks initiative boosts Baptist work in Thailand
By Bob Allen An American Baptist missionary couple’s 25-year work to improve life among the hill tribes of Northern Thailand got a major boost when Seattle-based Starbucks opened its first Community Store outside the United States last May in Bangkok….
SBC leader says evangelicals paying price for ‘narrow vision’ of religious freedom
By Bob Allen Loss of the historic Baptist commitment to religious liberty has left U.S. evangelicals ill-prepared for current threats to the free exercise of religion, the Southern Baptist Convention’s top spokesman for moral and public policy concerns suggested April…
Tennessee Baptist school fights Obamacare
By Bob Allen Southern Baptist-affiliated Union University filed a lawsuit April 4 challenging insurance coverage of contraceptives mandated for employers by the federal Affordable Care Act. The Tennessee Baptist Convention-affiliated school in Jackson, Tenn., joined numerous secular and religious employers…
Russian, Ukrainian Baptist leaders meet in Kiev
By Bob Allen The heads of the Baptist unions in Ukraine and Russia met April 8 for the first time since a political crisis began last November putting the two nations on the brink of war. Presidents of the All-Ukrainian…