The current president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas has been nominated to serve as its executive director, ending a 14-month search process. Julio Guarneri, lead pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen, Texas, is the first Hispanic ever…
NAMB’s lies are worse than McLaurin’s, Will McRaney charges
A former Baptist executive who claims he was defamed by the leaders of a Southern Baptist Convention agency now says Baptists concerned about the fraudulent resume of Willie McLaurin should be more concerned about false witness offered under oath by…
When is a ‘prominent’ memorial not as ‘major’ as advertised?
A “prominent” marker on the campus of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary acknowledging the sins of the institution’s slaveholding founders is smaller than a nearby banner bearing the image of current seminary President Al Mohler, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports. The 20-by-30-inch…
SBC conducting internal investigation on McLaurin’s resume lies
The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee will launch an internal investigation into how its recently removed interim president deceived the denomination for years about his educational background and military service — both of which appear to be bogus. Although Executive…
‘Vengeance is mine,’ says school board trustee who snuck into library to look for objectionable books with a flashlight
A small-town Texas school board member who believes there are pornographic books in the school library was censured by the other trustees of Granbury Independent School District Aug. 23. Trustee Karen Lowery — who ran for office last fall on…
1,000 Baylor alumni call on school to ‘end unequal treatment’ of LGBTQ students
More than 1,000 alumni, faculty and staff members of Baylor University have signed on to a letter calling on the Baptist school to “end the harmful, separate and unequal treatment” of LGBTQ people in the Baylor family and to ensure…
New SBC head attends a dually aligned church and his wife is a ‘minister’
The new interim president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee is a member of a church dually aligned with the SBC and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and where his seminary-educated wife holds the job title “minister of students and…
Thomas Graves, founding president of BTSR
Thomas Henry Graves, founding president of Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, died Aug. 17 at age 75. Trained as a Southern Baptist pastor, he became a leader in the so-called “moderate” movement that broke away to create the Alliance of…
Lahaina’s diverse religious community won’t be stopped by wildfire
As the Hawaii Conference of the United Church of Christ gathered for worship via Zoom Aug. 20, worshipers heard a bell toll 114 times. That was one bell for every confirmed life lost in the wildfires that have ravaged parts…