RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — A group of current and former missionaries, former mission-board trustees and pastors is calling for the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board to reverse controversial guidelines for missionaries enacted in 2005. The guidelines prohibit the appointment…
Arkansas Baptist school falls short of World Series crown
SAUGET, Ill. (ABP) — An Arkansas Baptist college's baseball team fell just barely short of claiming the NCAA Division II crown May 31. The Ouachita Baptist University Tigers couldn't overcome a five-run lead built up by the top-ranked Mount Olive…
Polygamist sect’s children sing, write poems to thank Baptists
GONZALES, Texas (ABP) — Children seized from a polygamist sect's compound and temporarily entrusted to a Texas Baptist child-care agency bid farewell to their former caretakers May 31 with poetry, song and strong emotion. In anticipation of a court ruling…
CBF General Assembly devotes prayer time to discerning way
ATLANTA (ABP) – How does God want us to use our resources? Finding an answer to that and related questions will be a priority at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly this year. Leaders will seek input from attendees at…
Obama departure from Trinity garners concern, criticism
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Religious and political leaders are expressing both concern and criticism in the wake of Barack Obama's recent break with the church that brought him to faith 20 years ago — but has brought him headaches on the…
Sect’s children begin leaving Baptist caregiver’s custody
DALLAS (ABP) — After court rulings declaring that the state of Texas had insufficient cause to keep them from their parents, more than 400 children taken from a compound owned by the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints began returning to their…
SECOND OPINION: Running where Jesus walked
‘Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons,” Isaiah…
Baylor president’s future in doubt
WACO, Texas (ABP) — John Lilley may be the latest endangered leader at the world's largest Baptist school, according to reports in the local newspaper. The Waco Tribune-Herald reported May 17 that Baylor University leaders declined to discuss whether the…
OUT LOUD
“Thanks to the wisdom of the planners or the Holy Spirit, I found myself seated next to Pat Robertson — who, to let you in on a secret, is not my favorite theologian. But do I get to deny that…
Nashville church reverses ouster vote
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — One week after an effort to oust 71 members of Two Rivers Baptist Church failed by four votes, the Nashville megachurch voted again and this time removed the dissidents on a show-of-hands vote. The congregation was…
RIGHT OR WRONG?
My son and his wife divorced and fought bitterly for custody of their 3-year-old son. Now, our former daughter-in-law refuses to let my wife and me visit our grandson. We believe she has a moral obligation to allow us to…
Baptist assistance project offered to churches
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) — With nearly half of the 43,000 churches in the Southern Baptist Convention baptizing three or fewer people, according to 2007 statistics, the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists, the North American Mission Board and state and local…