WASHINGTON (ABP) — The National Association of Evangelicals and Evangelical Environmental Network set aside Sunday, July 18, as a "National Day of Prayer for the Gulf." Mitch Hescox, president and CEO of the Evangelical Environmental Network, said he realized a…
Campolos model peaceful dialogue on gays
KEUKA PARK, N.Y. (ABP) — During its July 12-17 summer conference, the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America used a Christian couple who famously disagree over homosexuality and the church to model a respectful and peaceful dialogue about the issue….
Groups across spectrum file briefs supporting Westboro Baptist Church
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Seven groups representing diverse constituencies filed Supreme Court briefs July 14 defending the rights of a controversial Baptist church to protest near military funerals with messages of hate. Lawyers representing law schools, civil-liberties, religious-freedom and press-freedom organizations…
Planting churches that take root requires the right processes, people
(ABP) — Christ’s Great Commission — to share the gospel with people of every language, nationality and culture — calls Christians to find ways to penetrate unreached areas. Planting new churches in places where none exist, or in specific cultural…
Church Planting: How should church starters measure success?
Andrew Daugherty ROCKWALL, Texas (ABP) — Andrew Daugherty sees success where others might only have glimpsed failure when Christ Church Baptist in Rockwall, Texas, ceased to exist as a congregation four years after it launched. Should the death of a…
Church Planting: Missional, emergent movements place premium on planting
(ABP) — The missional-church and emergent-church movements are sweeping through many aspects of Christian life — including church planting. While both most often are tagged as movements, they also function as foundations for birthing new congregations. {youtube}dpXscmLyoUU{/youtube} “It’s easier to…
Church Planting: Need for funding common denominator in church starts
(ABP) — Regardless of the method or process used to start them, all new church plants have one thing in common — the need for money. Sometimes a church planter will raise enough money through individual donations or start with…
Tenn. city latest flashpoint in culture wars
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (ABP) — Best known to history buffs as the site of a major Civil War battle and to Baptist insiders as the home of the independent/fundamentalist Sword of the Lord newspaper, usually quiet Murfreesboro, Tenn., has recently emerged…
Common denominator for new churches: They all need funds
Regardless of the method or process used to start them, all new church plants have one thing in common — the need for money. Sometimes a church planter will raise enough money through individual donations or start with a handful…
Homeowners weigh morality of walking out on mortgages
ORLANDO, Fla. (RNS)—Lynn Thompson quit paying the mortgage on her investment property—not because she couldn’t afford the payments, but because she thinks walking away is better for her long-term financial health. trategic defaults on home mortgages accounted for 31 percent…
Musician teaches young girls that modest is hottest
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—As Jaime Jamgochian performs concerts and leads worship around the country, she communicates to teenage girls messages about modesty, purity and self-worth. “I really want young girls to be who God created them to be and to believe that…
FAITH DIGEST
Church attendance inches up, Gallup says. A new Gallup Poll found Americans’ self-reported church attendance has increased slightly since 2008. When asked how often they attend church, synagogue or mosque, 43.1 percent of Americans in 2010 said they attended “at…