WINFIELD, Mo. (ABP) — Thirty years after the Southern Baptist Convention began ridding itself of theological moderates and liberals, a prominent Missouri Baptist layman is warning that the nation’s largest non-Catholic faith group now faces a different kind of liberalism…
BAPTIST BRIEFS
Baptist Women in Ministry director named. Pam Durso of Atlanta has been hired as the new full-time executive director for Baptist Women in Ministry. Durso, currently associate executive director-treasurer of the Baptist History & Heritage Society, will begin her duties…
Former SBC officer says he’s praying for President Obama’s death
BUENA PARK, Calif. (ABP) — A former Southern Baptist Convention officer called the murder of a controversial abortion provider in Kansas an answer to prayer, and he told a talk show host he also is praying for President Obama to…
Study of SBC restructuring unnecessary, Chapman asserts
NASHVILLE — A proposal to study a restructuring of the Southern Baptist Convention is not needed, SBC Executive Committee President Morris Chapman insists. Chapman made his feelings known about a proposed Great Commission Resurgence Declaration, issued in late April by…
Ministers seek investigation into police shootings
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — Black Baptist preachers in Jacksonville, Fla., are calling for an independent investigation into a rash of recent shootings by police. Family members said Kiko Battle, fatally shot by police, wanted to be a barber. The…
Baptist ministers facing sex charges appear in court
LIBERTY, Mo. (ABP) — Southern Baptist ministers facing molestation charges in three states had recent days in court. Robert M. Black, 40, pastor of New Home Baptist Church near St. Joseph, Mo., pleaded not guilty June 18 to felony…
Baptist leaders urge Congress to pass climate-change bill
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — A total of 140 moderate Baptist leaders signed a June 18 letter urging passage of a comprehensive energy bill that includes caps on emissions linked to global warming. Drafted by the Baptist Center for Ethics, a…
Baptism: Neither a means of obtaining grace nor a trivial ritual
By looking back to their beliefs and practices from the mid-18th century to the early 19th century, Baptists can reclaim a view of baptism between the poles of sacramentalism and “mere symbolism,” church historian and theologian Sheila Klopfer said. Historically,…
Sewing skills are key for Portsmouth congregation
PORTSMOUTH — It started with a sewing pattern and a mission conference. Bruce Powers, pastor of Westhaven Baptist Church in Portsmouth, attended the MC2 conference sponsored by the VBMB last summer at Eagle Eyrie. Staffers of the Woman’s Missionary Union…
Baptists urged to consider risks of ‘majoritarian faith’
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (ABP) — Baptists in the United States — who find themselves members of a religious majority or plurality in many areas — would do well to remember their humble beginnings as a persecuted minority and to reconsider the…
Virginia Baptists respond to W. Va. floods
GILBERT, W.Va. (BP) — In the wake of flash floods that washed away rural roads and even mountainsides over six southern West Virginia counties on Mother’s Day weekend, Virginia Baptists joined other Baptist disaster relief feeding units and mud-out crews…
What does it mean to be Baptist?
Some of the same theological disputes that divided Baptists throughout their first 400 years continue to distinguish different branches of the Baptist family tree in the early years of the 21st century, theologian James Leo Garrett said. And other challenges…