By Bob Allen The South Carolina Baptist Convention has resumed funding for North Greenville University, after convention leaders said they were satisfied with the way the board of trustees handled a scandal involving the school’s former president. The state convention’s…
Camping ministry unveils capital campaign
By Bob Allen Passport, Inc., an ecumenical Christian camping ministry and longtime partner of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, has launched a $1.5 million capital campaign, bolstered by a $500,000 matching-funds challenge grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation….
Survey says many Christians reluctant to talk about marital problems at church
By Bob Allen While 94 percent of Protestant pastors believe their churches are safe places to talk about marital difficulties, fewer than half of churchgoers who divorced in the past five years discussed their marriage problems with the lead pastor,…
Chik-fil-A challenged for sponsoring LGBT-themed film festival
By Bob Allen Three years after evangelical Christians designated a day to eat more chicken in support of Chik-fil-A’s defense of traditional marriage, the Southern Baptist-owned fast food chain is taking heat online for sponsoring what is billed as the…
Kentucky Baptist group to urge defunding of Planned Parenthood
By Bob Allen The Kentucky Baptist Convention announced plans Oct. 28 to vote on a resolution calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood at the convention’s annual meeting Nov. 10 in Elizabethtown, Ky. “The horror of Planned Parenthood’s murder and…
Association boots church for ‘affirming’ gays
By Bob Allen A Cooperative Baptist Fellowship church in Mississippi has been voted out of its local association for being too soft on homosexuality. The Pine Belt Baptist Association voted Oct. 20 to withdraw fellowship from University Baptist Church in…
Pastor says ‘closeted’ evangelicals support Trump
By Bob Allen Southern Baptist pastor and Fox News contributor Robert Jeffress said Oct. 26 he believes presidential candidate Donald Trump is being buoyed in the polls by “closeted” evangelicals who believe electing a strong leader is more important than…
Tennessee convention purchases land for new headquarters
By Bob Allen The Tennessee Baptist Convention will move its headquarters from Brentwood, Tenn., to a 600-acre mixed-use development adjacent to Interstate 65 in south Franklin in 2017. The TBC executive board signed closing documents Oct. 26 for 2.3 acres in…
BJC exec blasts religious bigotry
By Bob Allen The head of a Baptist organization dedicated to upholding religious liberty for all Americans joined Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders in a pledge signed Oct. 23 in Washington denouncing all forms of religious bigotry. Brent Walker, executive…
Third-way pastor says most churches unsafe for LGBT individuals
By Bob Allen A pastor whose church was kicked out of the Southern Baptist Convention in 2014 for adopting a “third way” stance of neither affirming nor condemning homosexuality says despite talk of “hate the sin and love the sinner”…
Campbellsville inks pact with American Baptists
By Bob Allen Campbellsville University and the American Baptist Churches of Indiana/Kentucky formalized a partnership with a signing ceremony Oct. 20 on the university campus in Campbellsville, Ky. Soozi Whitten Ford, executive minister of the 313-church regional affiliate of American Baptist…
Baptist school honors former first lady
By Bob Allen A Texas Baptist university has bestowed an honorary doctorate on former First Lady Laura Bush, recognizing her decades-long advocacy of education, health care, human rights and the family. Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas, presented the former…