A former president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has joined 60 other Baptist leaders in publicly opposing the SBC North American Mission Board’s legal argument against Will McRaney. Morris Chapman, a former SBC president and president of the…
Gina Jacobs-Strain named general secretary of ABCUSA
Gina Jacobs-Strain has been named general secretary of the American Baptist Churches USA for a three-year term beginning Feb. 1, 2024. She will follow C. Jeff Woods, who has been serving as intentional interim general secretary since 2019. The general…
Lloyd Elder, Southern Baptist statesman
Southern Baptist statesman Lloyd Elder died Nov. 3 at age 90. Elder was the last “moderate” leader of the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board, forced out in 1991 by trustees elected through the “conservative resurgence” that had begun in 1979….
Coalition of Baptist leaders will file amicus brief challenging NAMB’s view of First Amendment
Will McRaney’s legal case against the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board will take a dramatic turn this week as a group of state Baptist convention leaders, former NAMB employees and former denominational officials submit an amicus brief alleging NAMB…
Making sense of the senseless death of an Alabama pastor
I did not know F.L. “Bubba” Copeland, but I probably have more insights into his tragic story than most Baptist pastors. Copeland, mayor of Smiths Station, Ala., and pastor of First Baptist Church in nearby Phenix City, took his own…
SBC ethics agency opposes EEOC guidance on what constitutes workplace harassment
The Southern Baptist Convention wants to allow workplace discrimination related to abortion, sexual orientation and gender identity views. The convention’s Ethics and Religious Commission has written the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to object to proposed new guidance on workplace harassment that…
Department of Education levies $37.7 million fine against Grand Canyon University for lying
A private university once affiliated with Baptists in Arizona has been fined the largest sum ever levied against a school by the U.S. Department of Education. The DOE and its office of Federal Student Aid said the $37.7 million fine against Grand…
How to find the trustees of the SBC entities behind the amicus brief
Who’s actually responsible for the positions and actions taken by entities of the Southern Baptist Convention? This is a pressing question now, as controversy flares over the SBC and three of its entities signing an amicus brief in a Kentucky…
SBC president apologizes for signing off on amicus brief
The president of the Southern Baptist Convention has apologized for signing off on an amicus brief in a Kentucky sexual abuse case — a brief that has ignited a firestorm of protest from sexual abuse survivors and their advocates, some…