HOUSTON (BP) — While celebrating the largest number of missionaries under appointment in recent years, trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board also heard some cautionary finance reports during their Nov. 10-11 meeting in Houston. The potential effects…
WorldCrafts gives hope to Afghan families
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — In the midst of Afghanistan — where armed conflict and oppressive poverty make every day a struggle for survival — some women and their families have found deliverance thanks to WorldCrafts. WorldCrafts, a fair trade nonprofit ministry…
News about Virginia Baptists and their ministries for Dec. 4, 2008
CHURCH NEWS • New Bridge Church, Sandston, broke ground for an addition to its fellowship hall on Nov. 23. The addition will include a music suite, prayer room, additional space for meetings and classrooms. When the project was proposed, an…
Supreme Court rules in favor of Virginia Baptist Homes’ Glebe
Ordinarily Halloween is not the holiday most associated with gift-giving, but for the trustees and administrators of the Virginia Baptist Homes it was like Christmas. On Oct. 31, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in favor of VBH, ending a three-year…
Whose birthday are we celebrating?
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — It's time to “Unplug the Christmas machine,” states a book with the same title by Jo Robinson and Jean Coppock Staeheli. And members of First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, Mo., are challenged to do just…
Seminars to focus on tax planning
The most important federal reporting obligation for most churches is withholding and reporting employee income taxes and Social Security (FICA) taxes. A number of unique rules apply to churches and “ministers for tax purposes.” Yet many churches do not comply…
Texas Baptists defer name change proposal
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — The Baptist General Convention of Texas elevated to its highest office the son of a former president, deferred action on a proposed name change and approved a reduced budget for 2009 at its most sparsely…
Pastors Conference celebrates the Lord’s undergirding
The annual pastors conference of the Baptist General Association of Virginia met on Nov. 10 at North Roanoke Baptist Church in Roanoke, the day prior to the BGAV annual meeting. Pastors conference president Mark Croston presided and introduced speakers, who…
Missouri Baptists again elect ‘SOC’ slate
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…