EDE, Netherlands (ABP) — Despite a challenging financial outlook, Baptist World Alliance leaders have moved ahead with the election of a new division director, welcomed two additional member bodies and called for new initiatives in both intra-Baptist relations and Christian-Muslim…
NAMB trustees consider removing agency head
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (ABP) — Two months after passing a resolution unanimously praising the direction of the North American Mission Board and affirming President Geoff Hammond for "exemplary, unique leadership and vision," NAMB trustees will meet Aug. 11 to consider removing…
Louisiana girl dies from injuries in church-bus crash
JACKSON, Miss. (ABP) — A July 12 rollover of a bus carrying a church youth group to a summer camp has claimed a second fatality. Maggie Lee Henson, 12, died Aug. 2 after a three-week battle with critical head injuries…
Bullard to lead North American Baptist Fellowship
EDE, Netherlands (ABP) — George Bullard, a frequent consultant to denominational entities and strategic coordinator for the Columbia Partnership, will become general secretary of the North American Baptist Fellowship beginning Aug. 1. George Bullard, a long team denominational worker and…
Truly valuing freedom of conscience
By David Gushee Moderate Baptists have distinguished themselves from their more conservative and fundamentalist brothers and sisters for a generation through their elevation of freedom of conscience to a near-absolute good. While the conservatives who came to dominate the Southern…
Struggle continues for teenager injured in church-bus accident
SHREVEPORT, La. (ABP) — A teenager from Shreveport, La., continued to fight for her life in a Mississippi hospital four days after a July 12 bus crash that killed one and injured 22 passengers on their way to a church…
Kingdom theology makes a comeback
By David Gushee The past decade or so has witnessed a surge of Christian theological work that features the kingdom of God as its central theme. This is certainly not the only current trend in theology or ethics. On the…
Callam: BWA is communion table for world Baptist family
HOUSTON (ABP) — The communion table provides a metaphor for how the Baptist World Alliance can unite Baptists in a “true spirit of hospitality,” Neville Callam insisted. Callam, general secretary of the worldwide umbrella group for Baptists, addressed the challenge…
Young pastors encourage CBF supporters to ‘Embrace the World’
HOUSTON (ABP) — Attendees to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly got a visceral call to embrace the world — and all their neighbors — in worship July 2. About 2,000 attendees and guests on the first night of the…
Can Christian citizenship survive?
By David Gushee It seems increasingly clear that Christians in America have no viable understanding of what used to be called “Christian citizenship.” Let’s use these two working definitions to anchor our discussion: Citizenship is the condition of being vested…
Will Obama pull us back from empire?
By David Gushee I write to introduce you to a hugely important, deeply pessimistic book that ought to be read by every thoughtful Christian, including the one in the White House. The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism,…
Graduation and a ‘naked public square’
By David Gushee Two years ago, we moved from west Tennessee to Atlanta for me to begin work at Mercer University. One of the many changes that this move brought to my family was a shift in schooling for my…