PORT SULPHUR, La. — Virginia Baptists concluded their more than two-year assistance to south Louisiana’s victims of Hurricane Katrina with a Sept. 26-27 celebration at Port Sulphur Baptist Church — one of the congreations hardest hit and the focus of…
Flood relief teams won’t be deployed, but alert raised for service in Pacific
RICHMOND, Va. — Large numbers of Baptist disaster relief teams responding to recent flooding in Georgia have made it unnecessary for Virginia Baptists to send their own units, a disaster relief coordinator said Oct. 1. But a Norfolk, Va.-based “fly…
Ragan Courtney to lead workshop on integrating worship and the arts
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Integrating worship and the arts will be the focus of a one-day workshop led by Christian composer Ragan Courtney in November. The event, sponsored by the John Leland Center for Theological Studies in Falls Church, Va.,…
U.S. Christian leaders join calls to restore civil rights in Honduras
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Several Christian leaders in the United States are calling on the current government of Honduras to restore civil liberties suspended in an escalating political crisis in the Central American nation. The heads of several Protestant and Catholic…
Rally planned for Georgia pastor killed in botched drug sting
TOCCOA, Ga. (ABP) — A vigil is planned Oct. 3 to show support for the family of a Baptist pastor shot dead a month earlier by undercover police officers in a drug investigation gone wrong. Members of Shoal Creek Baptist…
Bob Bass to be nominated as BGAV first vice president next month
RICHMOND, Va. — Bob Bass, a Richmond layman long active in Virginia Baptist life, will be nominated in November as first vice president of the Baptist General Association of Virginia — which, if elected, could result in his nomination for…
Cheerleaders’ Bible banners raise community controversy
FORT OGLETHORPE, Ga. (ABP) — Hundreds of people gathered Sept. 30 in northern Georgia to support cheerleaders at a public high school ordered to stop using religious messages on banners carried on the field during football games. Cheerleaders at Lakeview-Fort…
BGCT leaders again recommend reduced budget for 2010
DALLAS (ABP) — For the second consecutive year, the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board approved a budget proposal reduced from the previous year. Messengers to the BGCT annual meeting, scheduled for Nov. 16-17 in Houston, will consider a…
Worship praise teams hone musical skills at weekend workshop
John Ivins (right) and the John Ivins Worship Band lead worship in a variety of settings around the world. (Photo by Michael Patch) LYNCHBURG, Va. — Contemporary worship leaders who are selecting praise team members should aim for an “OK”…
Baptists appeal for aid after typhoon hits Southeast Asia
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — Baptists in the Philippines are appealing to the global Baptist community for donations as they gear up for relief efforts in the wake of a Sept. 26 typhoon that has killed 300 people there and…
Baptists in Bahamas protest nation’s rising murder rate
NEW PROVIDENCE, Bahamas (ABP) — Bereaved families, government leaders and concerned members of the community gathered Sept. 27 at a Baptist church in the Bahamas to draw attention to rising murder rates there. While regarded by most Americans as a…
Baptists appeal for aid after typhoon hits Southeast Asia, killing 300
Filipinos clamber onto a roof to escape floodwaters dumped by Typhoon Ketsana in the Quezon City suburb of Manila Sept. 26. (BP Photo/Jay Directo/AFP) FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — Baptists in the Philippines are appealing to the global Baptist community…