The Baptist General Convention of Texas has experienced a 17% drop in Cooperative Program income in the past decade, Treasurer and CFO Ward Hayes told the state convention’s Executive Board Feb. 23. Earlier in that meeting, BGCT Executive Director Julio…
US LGBTQ identification holds steady at 9%
About 9% of American adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual, according to Gallup. That percentage is unchanged from last year but remains more than double the 3.5% from 2012, the first year Gallup measured…
SBC president endorses bill that would allow death penalty for abortions
The president of the Southern Baptist Convention appears to have endorsed proposed legislation in Tennessee that would impose the death penalty on women who have abortions. Clint Pressley, pastor of a church in Charlotte, N.C., weighed in on social media…
Mohler praises Trump for ‘moral clarity’ in State of the Union
Southern Baptist thought leader Al Mohler agrees with President Donald Trump that Democrats are “crazy.” The president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary used his Feb. 25 column in World magazine to say the president’s rambling two-hour State of the Union…
Foley: Greed is the root of racism
Greed is the root cause of racism, Malcolm Foley told the “Compassion and Justice” conference Feb. 21. Foley serves as special advisor to Baylor University President Linda Livingstone and as co-pastor of Mosaic Church in Waco, Texas. He is the…
‘This is our 1933,’ Jones warns
“This is our 1933,” Robert P. Jones told the FaithWorks “Compassion and Justice” conference Feb. 20 in Austin, Texas. Jones, founder and president of Public Religion Research Institute, was a keynote speaker at the event held at Riverbend Church. FaithWorks,…
Proctor Conference marks leadership transition
Tears flowed and applause resounded as the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference marked its first-ever leadership transition at the annual gathering in Chicago Feb. 23. Iva E. Carruthers, who was the founding general secretary of the nonprofit, has taken on emeritus…
‘If you want to honor my father, then do what he did’
“If you want to honor my father, then do what he did,” Jonathan L. Jackson told the opening session of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference in Chicago Feb. 23. The son of Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson brought the crowd…
Organizer says Latino pastors struggle after voting for Trump
Faced with deportations of their church members, some Latino pastors who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 now regret their choice, according to Agustin Quiles. The president and founder of Mission Talk, an organization that mobilizes Latino evangelicals to shape…
Supreme Court won’t hear McRaney’s appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied Will McRaney’s final effort to hold the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board responsible for his 2015 firing as executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland and Delaware. In a legal battle…
More details emerge about dissent at First Baptist Orlando
A number of members of the Horizon West campus of First Baptist Church of Orlando continue to express alarm over the way the church’s three senior pastors have treated their campus pastor and a campus worship leader. Since publishing an…
Texan plans to turn Epstein ranch into Christian retreat
Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in New Mexico has been bought by an ultra-conservative Texas businessman and politician who plans to convert it into a Christian retreat center. Albuquerque TV station KRQE reported Feb. 17 that Don Huffines now owns the…