STAUNTON, Va. — Families from around the Shenandoah Valley and beyond flock to Gypsy Hill Park, a 214-acre park in the heart of downtown Staunton, on summer evenings. While some are there to walk or bike or swim, many arrive…
CBFVA’s mission boxes for Liberia will enable young minds to grow
RICHMOND, Va. — The temperature topped 100 degrees as the mission trailer of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia pulled into the parking lot of Effort Baptist Church in Palmyra, Va., on June 9. Filled with 350 boxes packed by…
Roanoke Baptist walks to honor exceptional student and organ donor
ROAKOKE, Va. — For Shirley Young, finishing the race is part of keeping the faith. At 84, she’s walking in “Run With Grace” to honor a friend who died before she could finish her own races. Grace Lovegrove donated four…
WMU of North Carolina tackles poverty, other needs in mountains
AVERY COUNTY, N.C. — Woman’s Missionary Union of North Carolina volunteers and their families put their hands to service over the first week in June during a localized effort that modeled the national WMU MissionFEST/Family FEST. Ascending to Avery County…
HeraldBeat
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…
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…