FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — A Baptist pastor says moderates should be on guard against renewed attempts by fundamentalists to gain control of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Paul Kenley, pastor of Grace Fellowship Church in Lampasas, Texas, penned…
Global Christians signing on to meet Micah Challenge
NEW YORK (ABP) — A reported 119 million Christians around the globe stood up for action to end poverty Oct. 19. Observed the Sunday closest to the United Nations’ International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Micah Sunday aims to…
Newly deployed soldiers benefit from chaplain’s experience in Iraq
ATLANTA (ABP) — “How do you plan to stay in touch with your family while you’re deployed?” Army chaplain James “Jim” Kirkendall frequently asks young soldiers. It’s one of the many topics Kirkendall addresses during personal visits with military personnel…
Georgia Baptist pastor resigns after another brush with law
WARRENTON, Ga. (ABP) — The pastor of a Southern Baptist church in Georgia has resigned his pulpit after being indicted on federal charges of tax evasion in Maryland. It is not the first time that Otis Ray Hope has been…
Carter: Next president should focus on human rights
MACON, Ga. (ABP) — President Jimmy Carter called upon the next president — whoever he is — to focus on retoring human rights as a primary objective in American foreign policy in an Oct. 23 speech. The 39th president — now an…
Francis Shaeffer’s son says his father wouldn’t recognize the movement he birthed
WASHINGTON (RNS)—As a Christian philosopher, author and political activist, Francis Schaeffer urged conservative Christians to battle abortion and engage the secular culture. But he would have recoiled from the “snide” comments and jeering at this summer’s Republican National Convention, his…
Survey: On foreign policy, U.S. both blessed by God and on wrong track
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A new study described as the first of its kind suggests Americans believe the United States is both especially blessed by God and especially responsible to use its power wisely. Echoing the results of another recent poll,…
Marse Grant, longtime N.C. editor, dies at 88
RALEIGH, N.C. (ABP) — Marse Grant, editor emeritus of North Carolina Baptists’ Biblical Recorder, died Oct. 17 at his home in Raleigh. He was 88. Grant edited the Recorder from 1960-82, longer than any other editor in the paper’s history….
Counselor: Digital age poses pastoral challenges to church
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — A mother and son were estranged. She demanded his password for a social-networking website to make sure he wasn’t doing anything untoward. He refused because he felt it invaded his privacy. With such an impasse on…
Constitution aside, why should churches avoid partisanship?
WASHINGTON (ABP)—The forbidden idea of churches and other tax-exempt organizations endorsing political parties or candidates has started to sound like a good one, in recent decades, to many conservative evangelicals in the United States. In fact, a group of pastors…
SBC seminary professor labels birth control a ‘sin’
Thomas White (Photo: Southwestern Seminary)FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — A Southern Baptist seminary professor has sparked controversy with a recent sermon labeling use of birth-control pills a sin. Thomas White, vice president for student services and communications and associate professor…
Although Bible says it, Baptists haven’t settled it, historian says
WACO, Texas (ABP) — Throughout their history, Baptists have uniformly revered the Bible but passionately disagreed about what it means, historian Bill Leonard told a Baylor University audience. Leonard delivered the annual Parchman Lectures at the Texas Baptist school’s George…