After 30 months without a permanent leader, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee could be on the brink of hiring a president. California seminary president Jeff Iorg, 65, has been nominated for the post by a search committee that has…
It’s a four-way race for the SBC presidency this year
Three months out from the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, there’s a four-way race for the denomination’s presidency. Current SBC President Bart Barber is serving his second consecutive term and is ineligible for another term. So far, four pastors have…
Ed Young calls immigrants ‘undesirables,’ ‘garbage’ and ‘raff’
A former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a leader in the denomination’s “conservative resurgence” told his Houston megachurch Feb. 25 migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border are “undesirables, “garbage” and “raff.” Roaming back and forth on a stage adorned…
As Tennessee moves to ban Pride flag and keep expelled legislators out, Justin Jones warns of ‘force of authoritarianism rising’
“There is a force of authoritarianism rising,” Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones told participants in a conference on democracy in Washington, D.C., Feb. 27. Jones spoke to the “Together for Democracy” conference Tuesday evening in the nation’s capital after flying…
If getting voters to the polls isn’t government’s job, maybe it is the work of the church
Tim O’Hare has taken limited government to a new self-defeating level. The Tarrant County, Texas, county judge (chief executive of the county government) declared last week: “I don’t believe it’s the county government’s responsibility to try to get more people…
Oklahoma senator says of LGBTQ kids, ‘We don’t want that filth in our state’
“We don’t want that filth in our state,” an Oklahoma state senator said of LGBTQ students, who are being targeted by at least 50 Republican-supported bills in the legislature with full endorsement from the secretary of education. Sen. Tom Woods,…
Barber apologizes for ‘Monopoly money’ quip while mission board presidents say they won’t give money to launch new commission
The $2.5 million to $5 million reportedly needed to launch an independent commission to address and prevent claims of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist Convention churches will not come from the SBC’s two mission boards, their presidents said Feb. 21….
Oral arguments in McRaney’s appeal set for April 4
A trial date has been set for Will McRaney’s appeal of a single judge’s dismissal of his defamation case against the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board. McRaney and NAMB representatives have been summoned to New Orleans April 4…
Mohler says he finds it hard to believe allegations against Pressler are true
Sexual abuse allegations against Paul Pressler are “so horrifying that it’s actually very hard to imagine that they could be real,” said Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Mohler spoke Feb. 16 at Kenwood Baptist…
NRB head explains Trump’s appeal to evangelicals: ‘He gets us’
Less than a week after the “He Gets Us” ads during the Super Bowl set off another round of debate about how to market Christianity, the head of the National Religious Broadcasters said Donald Trump was invited to address the…
Even as others knew of allegations against Pressler, Texas House resolution praised him as ‘man of faith’
Nine years after leaders at First Baptist Church of Houston were told about allegations against Paul Pressler for sexually abusing boys and young men, the Texas House of Representatives passed a lengthy resolution of praise for the Houston judge and…
SBC Executive Committee financials missing from online report for third year, while 2022 audit shows trajectory that is ‘not sustainable’
For the third year running, financial reports from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee are missing from the annual SBC Ministry Reports website. An introductory paragraph to the website says: “The 2024 Ministry Report is the compilation of SBC entity…