“God is my assignment editor.” Unnamed obituary editor The quote was included at Overheardinthenewsroom.com, a web site about funny sayings overheard in newsrooms. (RNS) “I prayed multiple times a day, sang hymns with emotion and tears, felt each time that…
EDITORIAL: Time for the BGAV to affirm its own priorities
On Mother’s Day morning, before church, our phone rang. Picking it up, I could tell from the caller ID it was from our daughter’s household. “Hello!” I intoned cheerfully. The 6-year-old voice on the other end belonged to our younger…
HERITAGE: Dinner on the grounds
It’s that time of the year. Homecomings traditionally were held at churches in late summer or early fall when the crops had been laid by. Many churches picked a set date — the third Sunday in July or the first…
Texas church fighting hunger in its area one child at a time
DECATUR, Texas (ABP) — When Ken May and Candy Burden learned that one child in 10 in their area goes to bed hungry every night, they decided to do something about it. Every Wednesday this summer, volunteers from First Baptist…
VIRGINIA BAPTIST FORUM: Need for a name change
I was overjoyed to read your editorial in the May 27 issue concerning our Baptist name [Herald, May 27]. I have been playing that same tune for many years and it is nice to hear it from someone else. The…
VIRGINIA BAPTIST FORUM: Grateful for support
I would like to respond to the article “Death in a minister’s family (Herald, June 10). After over 41 years of marriage my wife Judy passed away March 22, 2010. Since I was called to vocational ministry after our marriage…
VIRGINIA BAPTIST FORUM: No amnesty for illegal immigrants
It was disappointing to read Bob Allen’s article titled “Conservative evangelicals call for immigration reform” in the May 27 Religious Herald. The article recommended immigration reform and those quoted recommended providing illegals presently in the U.S. what they call “an…
Baptists sending humanitarian aid to strife-ridden Kyrgyzstan
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…
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…