HOUSTON—Participants at a commissioning service held in conjunction with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship general assembly not only prayed for six field personnel who are assuming new assignments, but also recognized representatives of a ministry network serving in China. Pastor Steve…
CBF adjusts to budget shortfall
HOUSTON (ABP) — Eight months into the fiscal year, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s revenues were 20 percent below budget, the group’s Coordinating Council learned July 1. But — thanks to a plan in place since March to reduce spending to…
ABCUSA delegates reject bylaw changes
PASADENA, Calif. (ABP) — While celebrating the denomination’s broad ethnic, regional and language diversity at their biennial meeting June 26-28, members of the American Baptist Churches USA also exhibited their ideological diversity. ABCUSA General Secretary Roy Medley speaks to delegates…
After mere months on job, Riverside pastor resigns
NEW YORK (ABP) — A Baptist minister and former Wake Forest Divinity School professor has resigned just nine months after becoming senior pastor of New York’s Riverside Church , a historic congregation identified with the 20th-century Social Gospel movement that…
Baptist school cancels mission trip for church dismissed from SBC
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — A Kentucky Baptist university has, at the last minute, withdrawn its invitation to host a youth mission team from Texas after the Southern Baptist Convention disfellowshipped their church for its toleration of homosexuals. Brent Beasley,…
Church cancels services following flu outbreak at youth camp
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — A Southern Baptist church in Tennessee canceled Sunday and Wednesday services after cutting short a camp because children were getting sick with flu-like symptoms. Long Hollow Baptist Church, a 5,000-member church that meets in three campuses…
From the Eastern Shore to Cumberland Gap
STAFF CHANGES • Tim Madison, to Mechanicsville Church, Mechanicsville, as pastor, effective August 2. • Dan O’Dell, to Arlington Church, Arlington, as pastor. • Jim Foreman, to Sedley Church, Sedley, as pastor. • Stacy Nowell, to Harrisonburg Church, Harrisonburg, as…
Baptist musician, academic Loftis chosen to lead hymn society
Deborah Loftis takes over as executive director of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada in November. RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — A Baptist woman has been tapped to head an organization of church leaders and artists dedicated…
Buckner suspends mission trips to Honduras
DALLAS (ABP) — Buckner International temporarily is suspending travel by mission groups to Honduras in the wake of a coup that removed President Manuel Zelaya from office. Officials with the Dallas-based orphan care ministry announced June 29 they are halting…
NAACP head tells black Baptists civil-rights struggle not over
DETROIT (ABP) — Despite President Obama's election, African Americans still have a long way to go before achieving racial equality, NAACP head Benjamin Jealous told a group of black Baptists meeting in Detroit. "We're not the National Association for the…
Lilian Lim, pioneer Asian Baptist woman, dies in Singapore
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The first woman president of a consortium of Baptist seminaries in Asia died June 25 in Singapore. Lilian Lim, 50, was born with Marfan's syndrome, a connective-tissue disorder that weakens major arteries. Eron Henry, a spokesman for…
Lilian Lim, pioneer Asian Baptist woman, dies in Singapore
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The first woman president of a consortium of Baptist seminaries in Asia died June 25 in Singapore. Lilian Lim, a Chinese woman born and based in Singapore, made history in 2005 when she was elected president of…