ASHEVILLE, N.C. (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina has called Ka’thy Gore Chappell as leadership development coordinator. Chappell was introduced March 25 during the evening worship service of the state CBF general assembly at First Baptist Church…
Pastor facing possible deportation prepares for court, will seek pardon
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (ABP) — A Hispanic Baptist pastor arrested last summer by immigration authorities won't find out until September whether he will be deported for a crime committed in 1995. Hector Villanueva, pastor of Bautista la Rocha in Siler City,…
DC convention elects executive director in divided vote
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Ricky Creech, once a Southern Baptist missionary and associational director of missions and more recently on the staff of a Georgia United Methodist church, was elected in a close vote March 28 to be executive director of…
Conviction and freedom
By David Gushee What is the proper relationship between conviction and freedom? By “conviction” I simply mean clear theological and ethical beliefs and the willingness to communicate such beliefs just as clearly, one goal of such communication being to persuade…
FAITH DIGEST
Airline apologizes to Orthodox Jews. Alaska Airlines issued an apology for misinterpreting the devotional behavior of three Orthodox Jewish men on a flight from Mexico City to Los Angeles. The men had strapped on tefillin—black leather bindings and boxes worn…
What would Niebuhr do? Legacy of preeminent theologian is debated
PRINCETON, N.J. (RNS) — What happens when the contested legacy of America’s most famous 20th-century theologian meets the harsh political realities of the 21st? You end up with questions like whether Reinhold Niebuhr would support water-boarding. It’s impossible to know…
Bell’s hell draws heat, accusations of heresy from critics of new book
WASHINGTON (RNS) — One of the nation’s rock-star-popular young pastors, Rob Bell, 40, has stuck a pitchfork in how Christians talk about damnation. Bell is pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church, a megachurch in the Grand Rapids, Mich., area. His…
Small groups crucial, but not cure-all
Establishing small groups within a large church — heralded by some as a remedy to the drawbacks of burgeoning congregation size — is “good medicine,” but not a cure-all, according to a national study by Baylor University sociologists. “Simply having…
Small groups “catapult” members into larger life of the church and world
ALLEN, Texas — When a Connections class at First Baptist Church in Allen, Texas, began meeting in January a year ago, its diverse membership included a self-proclaimed atheist who attended because he had a friend at church, three unmarried cohabiting couples…