A former high-profile leader of the “conservative resurgence” in the Southern Baptist Convention has become a Roman Catholic. Jerry Johnson first came to public attention in 1990 when as a 25-year-old pastor he was elected a trustee of Southern Baptist…
Update: TPUSA event at First Baptist Orlando appears to be canceled
Turning Point USA apparently has canceled First Baptist Church of Orlando as a stop on its “Make Heaven Crowded” tour. BNG reported Tuesday morning that a campus pastor had been placed on administrative leave after questioning the church hosting the…
Orlando pastor on leave after questioning TPUSA ‘revival’
A campus pastor at First Baptist Orlando has been placed on administrative leave and a worship leader reportedly has resigned because they opposed the decision to host Turning Point USA’s “Make Heaven Crowded” tour next week. The Florida megachurch is…
Burge says this is why nondenoms have advantage over SBC
Nondenominational churches will continue to have an advantage over Southern Baptist churches because their members are younger and more ethnically diverse, predicts religion data analyst Ryan Burge. In a new Substack post titled, “Those Nondenoms are Just Southern Baptists, Right? ”…
Protests lead owner not to sell Texas warehouse to ICE
Yet another of the planned ICE mega-detention facilities has fallen through, with the property owner refusing to sell a Hutchins, Texas, warehouse for the Trump administration’s planned use. BNG was the first national news outlet to report on the location…
Conservative lawyer warns of legal overreach by NAMB and SBC
Attacks on the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board are coming not from the left or center but also from the far right, as evidenced by an article published online Feb. 11. The Center for Baptist Leadership — a…
Mohler worries about dignity of presidency — from Clinton era
In what might be considered a mild rebuke of President Donald Trump’s posting of a racist video last week, Al Mohler spins out 1,500 words before he mentions the president by name. And then he says Bill Clinton was worse….
Ed Young says Trump is not a racist
President Donald Trump is not a racist, according to Southern Baptist megachurch pastor Ed Young of Dallas. On Saturday, Feb. 7, the pastor of multicampus Fellowship Church based in Grapevine, Texas, posted a set of four slides on Facebook addressing…
52 Baptist leaders sign amicus brief supporting McRaney
Fifty-two current and former Southern Baptist leaders signed an amicus brief sent to the U.S. Supreme Court Feb. 9 arguing in favor of Will McRaney’s case against the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board. The signatories represent at least…
Trump admin continues to lie about who’s being arrested by ICE
Only a fraction of the 400,000 immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the past year had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses, according to new data from the Department of Homeland Security. Yet Trump administration officials continue…
Will anyone in the SBC really speak against racism?
In 1995, the Southern Baptist Convention adopted a resolution apologizing for its past ties to systemic racism and repenting of its founding history rooted in support for slavery. In 2015, the SBC adopted a resolution vowing to “rededicate ourselves to…
Trump and Hegseth defy evangelical theology at Prayer Breakfast
Much attention has been paid to the remarks of President Donald Trump at Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast, but the real story is what Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, according to Brian Kaylor. Kaylor, editor of Word&Way, writes a Substack…