TAMPA, Fla. (ABP) — Two decades after forming as a “new spiritual home place” for disenfranchised Southern Baptists, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship now is “called as a movement of the Spirit,” the keynote speaker at a 20th anniversary celebration banquet…
Reduced financial contributions still a problem, CBF council members told
TAMPA, Fla. — Sagging financial contributions remain a challenge for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, members of the group’s Coordinating Council were told June 22. Current receipts are running at about 82 percent of the $14.5 million budget for 2010-2011, said…
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship marks anniversary with laughter, hope
TAMPA, Fla.– The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship looked back in laughter and forward in hope at a celebration banquet marking its 20th anniversary June 22. So-called moderates who lost a bitter 12-year battle for control of the Southern Baptist Convention founded…
BJC defends limits on lawsuits against religious organizations
WASHINGTON (ABP) – The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty joined other groups in a legal brief arguing that a teacher fired by a Christian school should not be allowed to sue her former employer under the Americans with Disabilities…
AFA’s Bryan Fischer accuses SBC of pandering to gays, illegal aliens
TUPELO, Miss. (ABP) – A prominent conservative social activist has accused the Southern Baptist Convention of pandering to gays and illegal immigrants. Bryan Fischer Bryan Fischer, radio talk show host and spokesman for the American Family Association, commented in a…
AFA’s Bryan Fischer accuses SBC of pandering to gays, illegal aliens
TUPELO, Miss. (ABP) — A prominent conservative social activist has accused the Southern Baptist Convention of pandering to gays and illegal immigrants. Bryan Fischer, radio talk show host and spokesman for the American Family Association, commented in a blog that…
VITAL SIGNS: What will we do with failure?
Failure. Just saying the word in the same sentence as our name makes us nervous. Far too often, failure and ministry go together. Frequently, failure is the last word for ministers and churches. Many ministers’ inner life is marked by…
EDITORIAL: Positive signs in SBC leadership?
If you didn’t realize the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting was being held last week in Phoenix, you were not alone. For the first time since 1944, fewer than 5,000 messengers registered for the two-day conference. Only 4,780 had registered…
HERITAGE: Fulfilling the covenant
Black Creek Baptist Church in rural Southampton County, Va., celebrated its 225th anniversary last month. The home folks put thought and effort into the anniversary. They invited former pastors and members. They created an instant museum out of one of…
TRENDING: Rhythym of life
Peter Drucker famously remarked that the three most difficult jobs in the United States were university president, hospital administrator and pastor of a local church. Yet no one seems to be able to explain what a minister does. There are…
OUT LOUD
“As churches see immigrants here among us, our first question is not, ‘What is their legal status?’ The question first and foremost is ‘What is their gospel status?’ ” Paul Jimenez The chair of the Southern Baptist Convention’s resolutions committee…
Students at HopeTree Family Services’ academy become inventors
SALEM, Va. — The lathe hums quietly as a HopeTree Academy student carefully passes a cutting tool to a small piece of wood. With a steady hand, patience, and gentle pressure, he soon coaxes a curved, elegant cylinder from a…