Paul Honaker completes 38 years of music ministry at Bon Air Baptist Church in Richmond with a musical extravaganza set for 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 26. It will be a time to celebrate a career devoted to people and…
HeraldBeat: Tracking Baptists across the Mid-Atlantic
Transitions ON THE MOVE Matt Cook, to First Baptist Church, Wilmington, N.C., as pastor. Edward “Bish” Creel, to Beaverdam Baptist Church, Vinton, Va., as pastor. Christopher Dawson, to First Baptist Church, Monroe, N.C., as senior minister. Harry Smith, to Ephesus…
EDITORIAL: New controversy in the SBC?
According to research done by LifeWay and others, the next big controversy in Baptist life will be over Reformed theology, popularly called “Calvinism.” Southern Baptist Convention leadership has become concerned enough to hold a conference on the topic on Aug….
VITAL SIGNS: A pivotal question
Tom Ehrich, one of my favorite thinkers about church in the 21st century, recently told me he is down to one pivotal question for the congregations he works with. That question is: “Is your primary orientation inward or outward?” His…
Library association plans fall conference
RICHMOND, Va.—The Virginia Baptist Library Association will hold its fall conference Oct. 13 at Monument Heights Baptist Church in Richmond. The event, which begins at 8 a.m. and concludes at 4 p.m., will cost $20 per person. Registration deadline is…
Fierce heat, furious storms provide challenges for camps
LYNCHBURG, Va.—It’s official. July 2012 is on record as the hottest month in the country since recordkeeping began in 1895, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Sweltering temperatures combined with intense storms that plunged thousands into darkness presented…
Billy Graham hospitalized in Asheville with bronchitis
ASHEVILLE, N.C.—Evangelist Billy Graham was hospitalized Aug. 11 for a suspected case of bronchitis, according to news reports over the weekend. It’s the second time in less than a year the 93-year-old Graham has been taken to Mission Hospital in…
Camp given to HopeTree Family Services will enhance developmental disabled ministry, say officials
SALEM, Va.—A 40-year-old camp providing summer activities for the developmentally disabled has been donated to HopeTree Family Services, which is exploring ways the 90-acre facility can enhance the agency’s own ministries to intellectually-disabled adults. Dare to Care Charities, which has…
BTSR receives $1 million gift from Baugh Foundation
RICHMOND, Va.—Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond has received a gift of $1 million to be distributed over five years from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation of San Antonio, Texas, the seminary announced in an Aug. 7 press release….
Baptist injured in theater shooting chooses forgiveness
AURORA, Colo.—From his hospital bed, one of the 58 people injured in a July 20 shooting rampage in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater that claimed 12 lives became a spokesman for Christian forgiveness. Pierce O’Farrill, a member of the The…
Colorado tragedy affects Texas Baptist family
AURORA, Colo. (ABP)—The impact of a shooting rampage at a Colorado movie theater was felt as far away as Texas, where a Baptist family mourned the loss of a brother and son. Texas native Gordon Cowden, 51, the oldest of…
HeraldBeat: Tracking Baptists across the Mid-Atlantic
Transitions ON THE MOVE Scott Curtis, to Providence Baptist Church, Red House, Va., as pastor. Stephen Foss, to Plymouth Haven Baptist Church, Alexandria, Va., as senior pastor. Trent Sessoms, to Kingdale (N.C.) Baptist Church, as pastor. Joe McDowell, to Aarons…