ATLANTA (ABP) — Greenhouse-gas emissions continued to rise in 2007, according to two new studies. But Southern Baptists are still divided over what, if anything, to do about it. The World Meteorological Organisation said Nov. 26 that concentrations of carbon…
WMU WorldCrafts program brings income to impoverished
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Paulina Navichoc lives in San Pedro, a remote village high in the mountains surrounding Lake Atitlan in western Guatemala. This Christmas her family has food, clothes and medicine they might otherwise have gone without if it…
WMU WorldCrafts program brings income to impoverished, gifts to U.S.
Sale of one handmade Christmas ornament earns enough to feed a Guatemalan family for a week. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Paulina Navichoc lives in San Pedro, a remote village high in the mountains surrounding Lake Atitlan in western Guatemala. This…
Group sues Ky. for law requiring credit to God for security
LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABP) — An atheist-rights group and 10 Kentucky citizens are suing the commonwealth over a law requiring that the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security credit God for keeping residents safe. The religious language, largely unnoticed when a Southern Baptist…
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…