ST. LOUIS (ABP) — Messengers to the Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting Oct. 27-29 once again elected officers sympathetic to a reform movement within the state convention, while hearing a report about the difficult work of an ad hoc “peace…
SBCV welcomes new executive director
ROANOKE (BP) — The 12th annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia Nov. 10-11 drew 950 messengers and 250 guests to First Baptist Church in Roanoke, where messengers adopted a $9.5 million budget, welcomed 25 new churches, celebrated…
Ga. Baptists reject church with woman pastor
JONESBORO, Ga. (ABP) — The Georgia Baptist Convention has decided to refuse gifts from a historic member church that last year called a woman as pastor. Messengers to the Nov. 9-11 annual meeting approved a policy change authorizing convention leaders…
EDITORIAL: Being a contented pastor’s wife
Dear Jimmy, I'm writing to tell you about a conversation I had this afternoon when we were over at Dolly Mayhew's that I think might make a good article for the Religious Herald. Her daughter Kelly and her new husband…
Md./Del. cuts budget amid financial hardships
DOVER, Del. (BP) — Messengers to the Nov. 10-11 annual meeting of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware approved an overall budget of $6.2 million for the coming year, down from $7.1 million in 2008. Anticipated Cooperative Program giving from churches…
Gentle warrior
Earl Scott claimed that he was “no hero.” As proof, he cited that he won no medals. But he did have war stories. He liked to tell about his “window on the Battle of the Bulge.” It was a pilot's…
N.C. Baptists nix plan to forward CBF gifts
GREENSBORO, N.C. (ABP) — North Carolina Baptist churches soon won't be able to support the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship through the state convention, messengers decided at their annual meeting Nov. 12. The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina voted to kill…
SECOND OPINION: Dear Michelle
Dear Michelle: I'm probably supposed to call you something more important now that you'll soon be our country's first lady, but I'm not sure what I should call you exactly, and, anyway, we're not much for titles around here. I…
OUT LOUD
“Deuteronomy says if your kid doesn't follow your God, kill 'em. That's what we do, but not physically. To us, you're dead if you're not serving our God.” Star R. Scott The pastor of Calvary Temple in Loudon County was…
RIGHT OR WRONG?
Congregations are being torn apart by conflict. Usually, the decisions to resolve the issues are decided by majority votes. Why is there no deference to minority reports? After all, that is the ground out of which Baptists developed. Controversy and…
Obama narrows — but doesn’t close — the electoral ‘God gap’
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Analysis of exit polls dissecting Barack Obama's historic presidential victory indicates the “God gap” dividing American politics remains in place, but Obama fashioned a victory by significantly narrowing it nearly everywhere — among those who worship frequently…
Leading the black church: Can it be a woman’s place?
CLEVELAND (RNS) — Imelda Ellison sits quietly in her pew as, one by one, dressed all in white, the members of the Emmanuel Women of Worship come down the center aisle. Their heads held high, 15 women step and sway,…