ST. LOUIS (ABP) — This fall, Missouri Baptist University in suburban St. Louis will join a handful of other schools nationwide in offering a women’s wrestling program. MBU officials hope the program will help more of the small liberal-arts institution’s…
Troubled Texas WMU seeks healing with interim director
On the first day of their June 16-17 board meeting, directors learned the organization’s executive committee had hired Nelda Seal, former executive director of Louisiana WMU, for the post 11 days earlier. On June 17, members introduced a bylaws revision…
Alma Hunt, longtime Baptist missions advocate, dead at 98
Hunt’s influence remained profound over the next 34 years as a volunteer worker with the Baptist World Alliance, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Foreign (now International) Mission Board, Global Women and numerous Virginia Baptist organizations. “[Alma Hunt] heralded the cause of…
SBC officials reject idea of sex-offender database
The move came in response to a motion, passed nearly unanimously by messengers to last year’s SBC meeting, asking officials to study the database idea. Oklahoma pastor and former International Mission Board trustee Wade Burleson requested a feasibility study for…
SBC resolution could shrink church membership rolls further
The resolution, which reflects the growing influencing of Calvinism in the SBC, comes on the heels of denominational statistics that showed the 16 million-member convention shrinking. Membership fell in 2007 for the second time in a decade. Even more discouraging,…
Texas church targeted for ouster from SBC over homosexuality
Sanderson’s motion, like the one targeting female pastors, was referred to the SBC Executive Committee, which handles the business of the convention during the rest of the year. If eventually approved by the SBC next year, the effect of the…
Radical Islam among 4 apocalyptic forces threatening America, SBC’s Land says
Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, spoke during his agency’s report to the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis. He saved his toughest words for radical Islam, which he called a “death cult.”…
Caspian more violent than virtuous, scholars say; but what about 3rd movie?
What ensues is a storyline that is noticeably more violent than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Ralph Wood, professor of Lewis and Tolkien literature at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, noticed the difference between the two movies. He…
OUT LOUD
“One final thing, Lord, I promise. This November could you keep an eye on all of us and see that the change that we embrace comes from Arizona and not Illinois?” James Lisante The Catholic priest from Long Island, N.Y.,…
CBF partners with Baptists in Ghana
ATLANTA (ABP) — Leaders from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Ghana Baptist Convention recently signed a memorandum of understanding, representing an official partnership between the organizations and churches that partner with them. For many years, Fellowship partner churches and…
Lottie Moon Offering gifts total $150.4 million
RICHMOND (BP) — Despite difficult economic conditions, Southern Baptists gave $150.4 million to the 2007 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions to support the work of more than 5,300 missionaries worldwide. After financial books closed at the end of…
Hazards for both sides when politicians court pastors
WASHINGTON (RNS)—Mitt Romney and his Mormon faith. Mike Huckabee and his “Christian leader” ads. John McCain and John Hagee. Hillary Clinton and her “prayer warriors.” Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright. To put it mildly, the 2008 election has featured an…