Tennessee megachurch pastor Steve Gaines was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention June 15 when another candidate conceded in a runoff election that was too close to call. Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., came three…
Baptist editor calls for open meetings
In a motion at the Southern Baptists Convention June 14, a Baptist state newspaper editor asked trustees of all Southern Baptist Convention entities to open their meetings to the press. Lonnie Wilkey, editor of the Baptist and Reflector newspaper in…
Southern Baptists renounce Confederate flag
One hundred seventy one years after its founding over a dispute about whether slaveholders could be appointed as missionaries, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a strongly worded resolution June 14 against public display of the Confederate flag. The resolution, as…
Southern Baptists convene panel on racial reconciliation
Meeting 20 minutes from Ferguson, Mo., Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd convened a historic national panel discussion on racial unity and the church in America June 14 at the America’s Center Convention Complex in downtown St. Louis. Floyd, pastor…
Southern Baptists pledge prayer for Orlando
Though the Southern Baptist Convention will be asked this week to adopt a statement affirming its opposition to same-sex marriage, the denomination opened its 2016 annual meeting in St. Louis, Mo., with prayer that God might “take that which Satan meant…
Another evangelical joins roster of Trump supporters, despite earlier opposition
Another evangelical leader has signaled support for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, despite earlier predictions that Americans would be “bitterly disillusioned if he were to obtain the nation’s highest office.” Richard Land, the Southern Baptist Convention’s former top public policy…
Pastor says Ali property of everyone, but product of black struggle for civil rights
A Baptist pastor from Muhammad Ali’s childhood neighborhood in Louisville, Ky., eulogized the fallen champ and hometown hero as “a product of a difficult time” who “dared to love black people at a time when black people had a problem…
Professor defends complementarian view against heresy charge
A Southern Baptist theologian is denying accusations of reforming the doctrine of the Trinity to advance a social agenda that wives must submit to their husbands. Bruce Ware, a professor of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.,…
Editor rebuked for saying Muslims don’t deserve religious freedom
A Baptist expert on religious liberty rebutted a Baptist state newspaper editorial suggesting American Muslims do not qualify for the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist…
Faith leaders oppose military drone policy
A Baptist leader joined 27 other officials from Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh traditions in a June 6 letter to President Obama urging greater transparency about the role of unmanned drones in U.S. military policy. Paula Dempsey, director for…
Outsider SBC presidential hopeful loses nominator
A Georgia layman who announced recently he is running for president of the Southern Baptist Convention says it looks like his agenda to shake up business as usual in the nation’s second-largest faith group will have to wait another year….
Freefall continues in SBC membership, baptism stats
The Southern Baptist Convention lost more than 200,000 members last year and baptized fewer than 300,000 new converts for the first time in 68 years, according to statistics compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources. The loss of 204,409 members in 2015…