We continue our journey toward a new building to the glory of God! I previously identified the cross-sectional talents and skills required of persons on a building committee to appropriately address church program needs. This committee is composed of 10…
Baptist jailed in Haiti to stand trial on reduced charge, CNN reports
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (ABP) — Southern Baptist mission volunteer Laura Silsby will stand trial in Haiti on a charge of arranging irregular travel, CNN reported April 26. The network said Judge Bernard Saint-Vil dropped more serious charges of kidnapping and criminal…
Obama meets with Billy Graham
MONTREAT, N.C. (ABP) — President Obama met Billy Graham for the first time face-to-face April 25, making him the 12th consecutive president of the United States to meet with the famed Southern Baptist evangelist. Obama stopped by Graham's mountaintop home…
Baptist Peace Fellowship marks 15th anniversary of statement on sexuality
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) — The Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America applauded a recent order by President Obama permitting gays to visit their domestic partners in the hospital with a statement commemorating the 15th anniversary of a controversial move that…
Virginia Baptist Women in Ministry are told their voices can change the world
RICHMOND, Va. — There's a scene from the Oscar-winning film Precious — the story of a black teenager sexually abused by her father but trying to change her life by going to school — where she tells her class that…
Obama meets with Billy Graham
MONTREAT, N.C. (ABP) — President Obama met Billy Graham for the first time face-to-face April 25, making him the 12th consecutive U.S. president to meet with the famed Southern Baptist evangelist. Obama stopped by Graham's mountaintop home in Montreat, N.C.,…
Missouri Baptist Convention releases newspaper from lawsuit
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP) — Attorneys for the Missouri Baptist Convention have voluntarily released the organization's former official news journal from a long-running lawsuit against several agencies that removed themselves from convention control. Word & Way, the historic Missouri Baptist…
Cecil Sherman ‘stood on a higher hill’
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (ABP) — A self-described "comrade in arms" in the Southern Baptist Convention controversy in the 1980s remembered Cecil Sherman as one who "stood on a higher hill" than other moderate Baptist leaders. "Cecil Sherman was right more times…
Cecil Sherman ‘stood on a higher hill’ than his contemporaries, speaker says
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (ABP) — A self-described “comrade in arms” in the Southern Baptist Convention controversy in the 1980s remembered Cecil Sherman as one who “stood on a higher hill” than other moderate Baptist leaders. “Cecil Sherman was right more times…
Deep water dilemma: Can Baptists agree on baptism?
“Other denominations certainly have tended to see it [believer’s baptism by immersion] as what set Baptists apart. For centuries, it has been the most obvious answer to the question: What makes Baptists different?” said James Leo Garrett, distinguished professor emeritus…
Churches try varied ways to approach question of membership and baptism
RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — Baptism and local church membership have been inextricably linked historically in the minds of many Baptists. But that view is shifting as a decline in denominational loyalty and the easy movement of American Christians among churches…
What happens when Baptists cannot agree about baptism?
DALLAS (ABP) — If Baptists — in all their diversity — cannot agree on baptism, some theologians wonder what is left to unite them. "Other denominations certainly have tended to see it (believer’s baptism by immersion) as what set Baptists…