The Baptist General Association of Virginia is a “movement of mission and ministry,” not an institution, Bert Browning said last week following his election as chair of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. “Jesus Christ did not found any institutions and…
La. Baptists reject officers, motions offered by conservative faction
Messengers to the Louisiana Baptist Convention's annual meeting Nov. 14-15 surprised some observers by rejecting candidates and causes endorsed by the state's conservative political group. Messengers voted to amend a budget-cutting proposal that would have had a disproportionate impact on…
Texas Baptists vote for diversity
Rallying under a banner of “One Family-One Mission,” messengers to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting took decisive steps toward demonstrating the diversity of Texas Baptists. Messengers elected the convention's first African-American president, approved a governance plan that…
Conservatives win in North Carolina
Conservatives in the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina elected their candidate as president, toughened the convention's stance against gay-friendly churches, replaced the interim executive director and approved new institutional trustees without dissent. But they failed in another key objective-to…
Tennessee postpones action on Belmont
Messengers to the Tennessee Baptist Convention's annual meeting Nov.15-16 elected a convention president by a razor-thin margin and delayed action on altering the convention's relationship with Belmont University. Conservative Phil Jett, pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, won the…
Kentucky approves Georgetown College plan
Kentucky Baptist Convention messengers voted overwhelmingly to approve a new ministry partnership with Georgetown College. Meeting Nov. 15-16, they also elected conservative pastors to the KBC's top three posts, defeating three moderate pastors endorsed by Mainstream Baptists of Kentucky. The…
Advent: Weeks One and Two
Devotionals for November 24, 2005 By Connie White Member, First Baptist Church, Newport News Editor's note: As the Christmas season approaches, we offer the following daily devotional thoughts. Subsequent devotionals will appear in the Religious Herald between now and Christmas….
Women’s Retreat at Cool Spring Baptist
If you think that desperate housewives and girls behaving badly are inventions of 21st century television, think again. Errant, lascivious, conniving women have been around for a long time- and although the last place you might expect to find them…
Advent: Week Three
Devotionals for December 8, 2005 By Connie White Member, First Baptist Church, Newport News Editor's note: As the Christmas season approaches, we offer the following daily devotional thoughts. Subsequent devotionals will appear in the Religious Herald between now and Christmas….
Killer of Baptist workers executed in Yemen
A Muslim militant connected to the 2002 murders of three Southern Baptist medical workers in Yemen was executed Nov. 27. Ali al-Jarallah was blindfolded and shot in the courtyard of the central prison in San’a, Yemen’s capital, according to the…
Azerbaijan Baptists want property back
Baptists and Baha’is in Azerbaijan have both told Forum 18 News Service of their concerns about buildings, confiscated from them in the Soviet period, which they want returned. Both communities have had evasive replies from the state. The Baptists want…
American Baptist leader pledges to seek unity
The re-elected leader of American Baptists says his denomination's divide over homosexuality “tears my soul.” “I tell you from the bottom of my heart that this rupture tears my soul, and that I pledge before you, by God's grace, that…