FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — Baptists have begun sending aid to Kyrgyzstan, home of a growing humanitarian crisis stemming from violence fueled by ethnic intolerance that has killed hundreds of ethnic Uzbeks and driven tens of thousands more from their…
Analysis: United in theology, Southern Baptists differ on methodology
ORLANDO, Fla. (ABP) — The last time the Southern Baptist Convention met in Orlando was 2000. That year marked passage of a revised Baptist Faith and Message statement — a show of theological unity that celebrated a hard-won battle for…
Baptists view growing Hispanic population as opportunity
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The Census Bureau reports the Hispanic population in the United States has more than doubled in the last 20 years, from 22 million in 1990 to a projected 47 million in 2010. In 40 years, experts…
Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas to mark centennial
SAN ANTONIO (ABP) — Since its beginning, missions, evangelism, benevolence and education have remained central to the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas. In 1938, Mexican Baptists in Texas gathered at a campground in Devine to build a Spanish-speaking church. The…
Pastor joins growing numbers of blacks at Hispanic Baptist school
SAN ANTONIO (ABP) — Mel Keyes forgot about his prayer. But God didn’t. That explains how an African-American pastor twice the age of the typical college freshman ended up at Baptist University of the Américas, attending a school that trains…
Cinco de Mayo gives Texas churches opportunity to serve, learn
A mariachi band performed at Iglesia Bautista Templo in Lubbock as part of a Cinco de Mayo celebration Baptists in the area sponsored to reach their community. (PHOTOS/Courtesy of Ed Sena) LUBBOCK, Texas (ABP) — The sound of mariachi band…
History society recognizes former staffer with award
ATLANTA (ABP) — The Baptist History and Heritage Society honored its former associate executive director, Pamela Durso, with an award at the group's recent annual meeting in Georgetown, Ky. Pamela Durso, winner of the W. O. Carver Distinguished Service Award,…
SBC motions target Alliance of Baptists, racial discrimination
ORLANDO, Fla. (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee will study a motion to exclude churches affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists. SBC president Johnny Hunt completed his second one-year term as the denomination's top volunteer leader June 16….
Church team cycles across Missouri for kids’ smiles
TEBBETTS, Mo. (ABP) — Eighteen bicyclists ranging in age from 23 to 70 recently braved heat, rain and sore muscles to — literally — put smiles on the faces of children in underdeveloped countries. The riders and six support staff…
Obama nominates Baptist pastor to be religious-freedom ambassador
WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Obama has responded to more than a year of speculation and criticism among advocates for international religious freedom by naming an American Baptist pastor and motivational speaker as the nation’s top diplomat for religious freedom. Suzan…
Tennessee Baptist summer missionary dies after car accident in Maine
STANDISH, Maine (ABP) — A 20-year-old Tennessee Baptist summer missionary was killed June 16 — and three other summer missionaries and their local Baptist supervisor were injured — in a car accident in Maine. Palmer Maphet Palmer Maphet of Mount…
Gulf oil spill prompts environmental soul-searching
WASHINGTON (RNS)—The constant loop of disheartening images from the Gulf of Mexico—oil-covered pelicans, dead sea turtles, despairing fishermen—has prompted many Americans to seek ways to do something, anything, to take better care of the Earth. But what? And how? While…