Billy Graham tops pastors’ list. Evangelist Billy Graham was named by American pastors as the United States’ most influential living preacher, according to a recent survey by LifeWay Research. The study, conducted last November, interviewed more than 1,000 Protestant pastors…
American Baptists seeking to raise $1 million for Haiti relief
VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) — American Baptist Churches USA has announced a fund-raising goal of $1 million for earthquake relief in Haiti. Steve James and other medical professionals provide care in the days following the earthquake (The Fellowship blog) The…
Virginia Baptists to field Haiti medical teams as snow postpones relief efforts
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Baptists will field two medical teams this month to aid victims of Haiti’s devastating earthquake and qualified volunteers are being sought to fill them, a disaster relief leader says. The announcement comes as contributions for relief…
String of Texas church fires reaches 10
LINDALE, Texas (ABP) — Two Baptist churches within three miles of each other burned Feb. 8, the ninth and 10th in a rash of suspicious church fires in East Texas since Jan. 1. Firefighters from several departments responded to a…
North Carolina Baptist Men plan long-term effort in Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (ABP) — Nearly a month into an intense and immediate response to Haitians injured and left homeless and hungry by the Jan. 12 earthquake, it still feels like the second day of a domestic disaster to Gaylon Moss,…
Pastor stays out of division reported among jailed Americans in Haiti
MERIDIAN, Idaho (ABP) — As news of dissension among 10 Baptists from the United States jailed in Haiti leaked into media reports, the pastor of five of the volunteer missionaries said his church continues to support and pray for the…
Va. Baptist college president suddenly steps down, cuts staff
BRISTOL, Va. (ABP) — Michael J. Puglisi unexpectedly resigned as president of Virginia Intermont College Jan. 25, apparently at the request of trustees of the Baptist-affiliated school. And in what college administrators and trustees said was a move unrelated to…
Is forgiveness always appropriate for Christians? Yes, but …
Sermons on forgiveness often emphasize the Lord’s Prayer — “and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” But should Christians always forgive, regardless of circumstances? Is granting forgiveness always appropriate? “Yes, but …,” four Christians…
Forgive us our trespasses: Christians called to ministry of reconciliation
At age 8, Chris Carrier was abducted, stabbed multiple times with an ice pick, shot in the left temple at pointblank range and abandoned in the Florida Everglades. Miraculously, he survived the ordeal, although the bullet to his head severed…
UCC spokesman says decision to air Tebow Super Bowl ad is ‘arbitrary’
CLEVELAND (ABP) — A spokesman for the United Church of Christ says CBS’s decision to air a purportedly anti-abortion ad featuring Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Tim Tebow during the Super Bowl shows favoritism to some religious viewpoints over others. Focus on…
Swiss aren’t only ones who resist mosque construction
WASHINGTON (RNS) — When Switzerland recently voted to ban construction of minaret towers at mosques, some observers interpreted it as an expression of European xenophobia that never would find a home in multicultural America. But to say it couldn’t happen…
Virginia church makes Galveston more livable in hurricane’s wake
GALVESTON, Texas — A team of Virginia college students used their winter break to make a couple of Galveston homes a bit more livable. Virginia Baptist students made this house in Galveston a bit more livable. More than a year…