By Bob Allen A unique partnership involving government, preservationists and a community theater group has helped rescue a historically significant but endangered Baptist church building in Massachusetts. The stately First Baptist Church, a fixture in downtown New Bedford, Mass., since…
Online Advent devotionals start Friday
By Bob Allen “Following the Star,” a series for Advent and Christmas, returns to Passport, Inc.’s devotional website d365.org Nov. 27. Daily entries will feature Scripture, prayer and meditative thoughts accompanied by gentle music. This year’s writers include Mihee Kim-Kort,…
Booted pastor defends ‘nuanced’ view of LGBT inclusion
By Bob Allen A South Carolina Baptist pastor whose decision to officiate a same-sex wedding got his church kicked out of its local association and state convention says he is concerned about a culture within the Baptist faith that is…
Church building on site of SBC’s birth declared unsafe
By Bob Allen The birthplace of the Southern Baptist Convention in downtown Augusta, Ga., has been condemned for occupancy after a routine inspection, the Augusta Chronicle reported Nov. 23. The city inspection came amid reports that homeless people were sleeping…
Abortion study finds gap between pulpit and pew
By Bob Allen One third of Protestant women who have had an abortion are Baptist, more than Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians combined, according to new statistics on abortion and church attendance collected by LifeWay Research. Those numbers are similar to…
Myers Park Baptist Church calls pastor
By Bob Allen A two-year search for a new pastor of Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., ended Nov. 22 with the unanimous election of Benjamin Boswell. Boswell, 35, is the youngest senior pastor ever to serve at the…
SBC expert claims boy in Barbie ad bends gender
By Bob Allen Southern Baptists’ go-to authority on “gender issues” is no fan of Mattel’s new Barbie ad challenging the stereotype that boys do not play with dolls. Bob Stith, founder of Family and Gender Issues Ministries in Southlake, Texas,…
Lobbyist enlists hunters to search for missing wife
By Bob Allen A Missouri Baptist lobbyist whose wife went missing 16 months ago is turning to deer hunters for help. “The half-million hunters that go out in the woods during this deer season, if they would all hear the…
Protestors to SBC: ‘All souls matter’ in campus ministry
By Bob Allen African-American demonstrators gathered Nov. 18 near James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., to protest what they claim is racial bias in the Southern Baptist Convention’s efforts to evangelize students at American colleges and universities. About two dozen…
Alabama Baptists support abortion limits
By Bob Allen Southern Baptists in Alabama urged lawmakers to pass legislation banning a technique used in second-trimester abortions in a resolution adopted by messengers to the group’s annual meeting Nov. 17-18 in Daphne, Ala. The Alabama Baptist State Convention…
Pastor charged with trafficking in police sting operation
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist pastor in South Dakota is being held by federal marshals in a county jail after he allegedly fell for a police sting operation by negotiating a deal with an undercover officer posing as a…
Ben Carson taps Baptist as Mississippi chair
Charles Pickering, a retired judge and Baptist layman, says the GOP frontrunner “has the integrity and moral authority to lead and bring America together.” A past president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention and member of a committee that attempted to…