CARROLLTON, Texas (ABP) — In a crowded parking lot filled with chrome and horsepower, Jeff Claes finds himself most at home. Weaving through a maze of leather-clad, patch-decorated bikers, he talks with others about motorcycles, rides and miles of open…
Southern Baptist leaders ask Obama to intervene on behalf of missionaries
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention urged President Obama Feb. 5 to do everything within his power to secure release of 10 volunteer missionaries jailed in Haiti. Morris Chapman, president and CEO of the SBC Executive…
Movie spotlights Darwin’s loss of faith, family crisis
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Heated debate. Loss of faith. Religious discord. Questions about death, the universe, and our place in it. According to a new film, Charles Darwin saw—and wrestled with—all of that and more as the implications of his theory…
After quake, Haiti missionaries ask: ‘Why not me?’
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Having survived a devastating earthquake during a 10-day mission trip to Haiti, Freedom Gassoway savors every minute she spends at home with her family in Beaverton, Ore. But for this 33-year-old mother of two, some of life…
Obama, Clinton at prayer breakfast denounce Ugandan anti-gay proposal
WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used the occasion of the National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 4 to denounce a draconian proposed anti-homosexuality law in Uganda — even though the event’s organizers have been closely associated…
Church fire forces closing of day care
TEMPLE, Texas (ABP) — First Baptist Church in Temple, Texas, has suspended operation of its 40-year-old Child Development Center indefinitely due to smoke and water damage from a Jan. 19 fire that authorities ruled arson. The decision, announced to church…
SBC official says he believes detained missionaries acted in good faith
CORRECTION: This story was updated at 7:30 p.m. CST Feb. 4 to correct an error in the 10th paragraph. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — A top official of the Southern Baptist Convention said Feb. 3 he is confident that a church…
Study finds abstinence-only programs effective in delaying sex
PHILADELPHIA (ABP) — A new study by University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine says that abstinence-only sex-education programs are effective in getting some pre-teens to delay having sex. The study, which appeared in the Feb. 1 edition of Archives of…
Baptist volunteers ready to serve amid massive needs in Haiti
A child stands in one of hundreds of makeshift tent cities that have sprung up in Port-au-Prince since the Jan. 12 earthquake. (BGCT photo) PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (ABP) — Servando Silva and Matt Johnson were packed for Haiti before there was…
Baptist volunteers ready to serve amid massive needs in Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (ABP) — Servando Silva and Matt Johnson were packed for Haiti before there was a trip to pack for. The Mission, Texas-based nurse and doctor had prayed for an opportunity to help meet medical needs in the wake…
Drake’s lawyer claims legal precedent for courts to remove a head of state
RAMONA, Calif. (ABP) — The lawyer representing a former Southern Baptist Convention official challenging the legitimacy of Barack Obama's presidency says there is legal precedent for courts to remove a sitting chief executive if the individual is found ineligible to…
Baptists continue to meet needs in Haiti despite major obstacles
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (ABP) — Nearly three weeks after an earthquake left an estimated 200,000 people dead, life in Haiti remains in as many pieces as the buildings toppled throughout Port-au-Prince. Carroll Prewitt (center) of Texas Baptist Men and James Cundiff…