STAFF CHANGES • David Benjamin, to Winfree Memorial Church, Midlothian, as pastor. • Bill Hardison, to May Memorial Church, Powhatan, as pastor. • Lee McConnell, to New Hope Church, Chesterfield, as pastor. • Garrett Sheldon,now serving as pastor of First…
RIGHT OR WRONG?
I've been reading a lot about whether it is right or wrong to applaud in church. Is this just a cultural issue, or is there something deeper? The preaching of John Chrysostom 1,600 years ago troubled people of nobility but…
Faith groups push to increase minimum wage to $10 an hour
WASHINGTON (RNS) — A nonpartisan coalition of more than 90 faith, community, labor and business organizations has launched an ambitious “$10 in 2010” campaign to raise the federal minimum wage within two years. The Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign…
Survey suggests ‘unchurched’ represent a pretty fluid group
WASHINGTON (RNS) — A new survey shows that “unchurched” Americans may be worshipping more, and “churched” Americans worshipping less, than many people might think. Numerous surveys track trends among “unchurched” Americans, but what does “unchurched” really mean? Does it mean…
Healing the sick
What distinguishes religiously-affiliated hospitals from their secular counterparts? Chaplains and charity care top the list, administrators of faith-based, nonprofit health care institutions agree. “Every morning at 5 a.m., a chaplain goes into our surgical unit, where he has the opportunity…
Faith no laughing matter, court says
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) — Making jokes and comments about a person's religion can create a “humiliating and painful environment” and be a form of on-the-job discrimination, New Jersey's highest court recently ruled. The New Jersey Supreme Court said remarks about…
Texas’s Bethesda Clinic brings hope to the uninsured
TYLER, Texas — A trip to the doctor can be financially catastrophic for some people — the 45 million uninsured or underinsured Americans. Bethesda Health Clinic, a faith-based primary-care clinic started primarily by First Baptist Church of Tyler, is addressing…
Reading the Bible anew — with the chronology clarified
Bob Sanford wanted to create a Bible that would bring order and clarity to the text. Instead, he's waded right into one of the great debates of biblical scholarship. The Chronological Study Bible will be released this fall in the…
Sunday school class project sparks international ministry
FALLS CHURCH — An eye-opening visit by a Baptist Sunday school class to a Moscow hospital nearly 20 years ago sparked a ministry that provides millions of dollars in medical supplies to almost 100 countries around the world. In 1989,…
FAITH DIGEST
Airport renamed for civil rights pastor. The Birmingham Airport Authority has voted to rename Alabama's largest airport for civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth. Shuttlesworth, 86, grew up in Birmingham and was pastor of Baptist churches in Birmingham and Cincinnati. He…
Baptist layman provides gift of life to music minister
LUBBOCK,Texas — Alzheimer's disease may cloud Hal Rowe's memory or derail his train of thought, but it has done nothing to damage his love of life and his desire to help others. Shortly after his diagnosis in the spring of…
Former planter files libel suit against Texas Baptists
EDINBURG, Texas (ABP) — A former Hispanic church planter implicated in a 2006 Baptist General Convention of Texas scandal has filed a defamation lawsuit against the BGCT and several other Texas Baptist entities and individuals. Otto Arango, founder of the…