BWA General Secretary Emeritus Denton Lotz (R) receives the ward from John Graz, secretary general of the International Religious Liberty Association. (BWA photo) WASHINGTON (ABP) — Retired Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Denton Lotz has been honored by the Seventh-day…
UPDATE: SBC messengers sever ties with Texas church over gay members
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — It took messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 23 only 30 seconds to sever a 125-year relationship with a prominent Texas congregation because of the church’s perceived toleration of gay members. Voting in…
Mike Huckabee slams Obama on Iran, abortion in speech to SBC pastors
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — Mike Huckabee — the once and (possibly) future Republican presidential candidate — staked out conservative political ground in a June 22 speech to Southern Baptist pastors. While only obliquely referring to the man he might run…
Huckabee criticizes Obama on Iran
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — Mike Huckabee — the once and (possibly) future Republican presidential candidate — staked out conservative political ground in a June 22 speech to Southern Baptist pastors. While only obliquely referring to the man he might run…
SBC Executive Committee proposes ouster of church over homosexuality
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee is recommending that the denomination sever ties with a prominent Texas church over homosexuality. If messengers to the convention’s annual meeting, set for June 23-24 in Louisville, Ky., agree to…
Religious charities gain in a down year
Religious organizations reported a 5.5 increase in donations last year, a marked contrast from the nationwide 2-percent decline in charitable giving, according to a study by Giving USA Foundation. Religious congregations, which accounted for 35 percent of the total $307…
Megachurches attract many under 45
Megachurches are most attractive to younger adults, and almost all who arrive at their sanctuaries have darkened a church’s door before, a new survey shows. The study by Leadership Network and Hartford Institute for Religion Research, released June 9 found…
Barmen Declaration offers relevant lessons 75 years after its publication
ATLANTA (ABP) — A document written three-quarters of a century ago to protest rising nationalism in Nazi Germany’s Protestant churches provides instruction for American Christians navigating through today’s culture wars, say a Baptist ethicist and Methodist filmmaker working together against…
Missouri Baptist layman takes on emergent movement
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…