My widowed mother is retired and survives on Social Security. After many years of living alone, she met a wonderful man she loves dearly. They want to marry, but because of potential loss of Social Security income, they are thinking…
Foundation celebrates scholarship awards
RICHMOND — The Virginia Baptist Foundation awarded scholarships totaling $70,625 to 41 recipients for 2008-2009 at its Scholarship Recipient's Reception June 8 at the Virginia Baptist Resource Center. The scholarship reception was a first-time event for the Foundation, drawing a…
Galindo named dean at BTSR
RICHMOND — Israel Galindo was elected dean at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond June 17 by seminary trustees. He replaces Mike Harton, who has served as interim dean for the past two years. Galindo Galindo serves the 17-year old seminary…
Bluefield College awards music scholarships
RICHMOND — Bluefield College awarded 13 $1,000 music scholarships to high school Baptist students during the Virginia Baptist All-State Youth Choir sponsored by the Virginia Baptist Mission Board at Derbyshire Baptist Church in Richmond. The recipients were Lauren Coburn of…
Love and marriage
WASHINGTON (ABP) — In all of America's brouhaha over whether legalizing same-sex marriage will sully the institution's sanctity, very few Christians are asking one important question: When — and why — did the government get into the sanctification business? When…
Establishment candidate wins presidency
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Atlanta-area pastor Johnny Hunt was elected Southern Baptist Convention president over five contenders on the first ballot June 10, returning control of the 16 million-member denomination to its conservative establishment. On the first day of the 2008…
Legal scholar looks at prohibition on polygamy
ATLANTA, Ga. (RNS) — When authorities raided a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints compound in April and placed more than 400 children in state care, it brought the long-simmering issues of polygamous communities to a boil. Following…
Resolution could shrink SBC rolls further
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention, struggling with a membership decline nationwide, passed a resolution June 11 that could significantly shrink church membership rolls even further. Messengers to the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis also turned back efforts to…
Building relationships is key to ministry to nontraditional families
How should a congregation respond to an unmarried cohabitating couple's request to join the church? Churches likely will face this and other tough questions as society's definition of family continues to change. “This isn't the church our parents grew up…
SBC targets Texas church over homosexuality
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — A Fort Worth, Texas, church, which long ago cut back its support of the Southern Baptist Convention, nonetheless could be ousted from that body because it welcomes homosexuals. The possible ouster of Broadway Baptist Church, along with…
Pastor challenges parents and offers incentive to tie the knot
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Daneisha Dunbar was never so happy to see her children cry. But there they were: 13-year-old Jheran, 10-year-old Aryn and 5-year-old Taryn, shedding tears and squealing with joy at the news that their mommy and daddy are…
SBC officials reject idea of sex-offender database
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Citing Baptists' “belief in the autonomy of each local church,” a Southern Baptist Convention official announced May 10 that the denomination's Executive Committee would not support the creation of a database of sexual offenders in SBC churches….