TRANSITIONS ON THE MOVE Kevin Wirt, to Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Troutville, Va., as pastor. Chuck Marshburn, to Tidewater Korean Church, Virginia Beach, Va., as English-speaking pastor. Robert Carpenter, resigning as pastor of Talbot Park Baptist Church, Norfolk. Don Harvey,…
All Southern Baptist eyes on black New Orleans pastor
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Even before the Southern Baptist Convention elected the Rev. Fred Luter to national office, there was already widespread speculation that Luter is poised to become the denomination's first African-American president. Representatives of 16 million Southern…
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…
SBC resolution targets Sharia law
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) – The Southern Baptist Convention’s top public-policy expert said June 18 that any imposition of Sharia law by courts in the United States would violate the Constitution. The president of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission…
White woman’s passion leads to black history museum
CRITTENDEN, Ky. (ABP) — A Kentucky woman simply struck by a passion presided over the grand opening of a museum dedicated to the history of African-Americans in Kentucky June 18. Connie Taylor grew up in Grant County and never noticed…
SBC resolution targets Sharia law
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention’s top public-policy expert said June 18 that any imposition of Sharia law by courts in the United States would violate the Constitution. The president of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission…
International religious freedom envoy condemns religious intolerance
GENEVA (RNS) — The Obama administration's new envoy for international religious freedom told a U.N. commission that government, political, religious and business leaders must stand ready to condemn hateful ideology. Borrowing from recent headlines, Ambassador-at-Large Suzan Johnson ook cited a…
Author says tale of pistol-packing preacher holds lasting lessons
FAIRFAX, Va. (ABP) —When the pastor of one of the nation’s largest churches shot and killed an unarmed man who entered his study threatening him, the whole nation took notice. J. Frank Norris, the controversial pastor of First Baptist Church…
Is marriage a ‘dying’ institution?
Marriage is a “dying institution,” actress Cameron Diaz claimed recently. And the movie star’s assertion hit a nerve. “I think we have to make our own rules,” Diaz said in the June issue of Maxim magazine. “I don’t think we…