NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force will ask the Southern Baptist Convention to give its International Mission Board freedom to evangelize unreached people groups on what had been the exclusive turf of the North American Mission Board….
CBF leaders, partner group executives focus on organizations’ future
PINE MOUNTAIN, Ga. (ABP) — Chief executives of more than 20 organizations affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship joined CBF national and state leaders and other invitees April 27-29 at a retreat center in southwest Georgia to imagine a future…
Independent panel criticizes Obama, Bush, Clinton on religious freedom
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A bipartisan federal panel charged with monitoring religious-freedom questions worldwide blasted current and past administrations — Republican and Democratic alike — April 29 for under-emphasizing religious liberty in foreign policy. In releasing its annual report, the independent…
Baptist scholars view Noah’s Ark discovery claims with skepticism
LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABP) — As the newest reported discovery of Noah's Ark raised doubts even among fellow Ark-hunters, two Baptist seminary professors said Christians should not rest their faith on whether remains of an ancient vessel are ever found high…
Book urges Christians to go green for God
DULUTH, Ga. (ABP) — Jonathan Merritt says he was both disappointed and pleasantly surprised by the response he received after organizing several hundred Southern Baptists in 2008 to issue a statement identifying the environment and climate change as moral issues….
As controversy lingers, Shroud of Turin still draws a crowd
TURIN, Italy (RNS) — As hoteliers and souvenir vendors from Lourdes to Mexico City can readily attest, a sacred pilgrimage can quickly morph from a spiritual event into a commercial bonanza. And although religious tourism has recently become a booming…
American Baptist National Ministries reclaims historic name
NEW YORK (ABP) — National Ministries of American Baptist Churches USA marked the 178th anniversary of its founding April 27 by announcing the agency will reclaim its historic name of American Baptist Home Mission Societies. "Outside of American Baptist circles…
Baptist jailed in Haiti to stand trial on reduced charge, CNN reports
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (ABP) — Southern Baptist mission volunteer Laura Silsby will stand trial in Haiti on a charge of arranging irregular travel, CNN reported April 26. The network said Judge Bernard Saint-Vil dropped more serious charges of kidnapping and criminal…
Contraception and abstinence not contradictory messages, Baylor researcher says
WACO, Texas — Teaching young people the importance of sexual abstinence outside of marriage and sharing information about contraception need not be seen as contradictory messages, a Baylor University researcher has concluded. Michael Sherr, director of doctoral studies at the…
Financial reform and Christian moral values
By David Gushee The “culture wars” have slotted Christian moral engagement with American public life into a drearily predictable pattern of fighting over issues such as abortion and gay marriage. But the longer history of Christian public ethical engagement includes…
Obama meets with Billy Graham
MONTREAT, N.C. (ABP) — President Obama met Billy Graham for the first time face-to-face April 25, making him the 12th consecutive U.S. president to meet with the famed Southern Baptist evangelist. Obama stopped by Graham's mountaintop home in Montreat, N.C.,…
ANALYSIS: Should Baptist churches adopt open membership? Yes.
The Baptist movement began 400 years ago with the self-baptism of John Smyth, but the roots of immersion lie beyond that first gathered community whose mode was affusion, or pouring. Edward Barber was probably the first to embrace believer’s baptism…