DALLAS (ABP) — An associate minister at a Dallas megachurch was arrested in Bryan, Texas, while trying to meet face to face with a “teen” he met online. A minister to adults at Prestonwood Baptist Church, Joe Barron, 52, of…
American Baptists launch fund to battle global food crisis
VALLEY FORGE, Penn. (ABP) — American Baptist Churches USA has launched a fund drive to provide money to help ministry partners in poor areas deal with the rising costs of basic foodstuffs. ABC International Ministries started the Global Crisis Food…
Baptists, other Christians already in China beat limits on foreign help
WASHINGTON (ABP)—While China has accepted a very limited number of foreign-aid workers in the wake of the disastrous earthquake that devastated much of Sichuan province, Baptists and other Christians from the United States already were situated to help. According to…
Iraq status reportedly divides panel on religious freedom
WASHINGTON (ABP)—An independent, nonpartisan federal panel’s failure to issue a recommendation to the State Department about Iraq reportedly is due to political division. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released its annual report and recommendations in early May….
Baylor President John Lilley’s future in doubt after meeting
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…
Abundant field of SBC candidates may signal relaxed political reins
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Candidates are lining up two-by-two for this year's Southern Baptist Convention presidency, like animals filing into Noah's Ark – two big-church pastors, two small-church pastors, two former missionaries. For the first time in almost three decades, six…
Baptists, other Christians already in China beat limits on foreign help
WASHINGTON (ABP) — While China has accepted a very limited number of foreign-aid workers in the wake of the disastrous earthquake that devastated much of Sichuan province May 12, several Baptists and other Christians from the United States were already…
OUT LOUD
“The only part of my faith that has any play in my judicial enterprise is whatever commandment it is — the sixth — thou shalt not lie.” Justice Antonin Scalia The Supreme Court justice was responding to a question on…
Ground-rules recommended for dealing with religion in schools
ABILENE, Texas — Whatever the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately decides, communities should strive to have better conversations about the role of religion in public schools, Melissa Rogers told participants at the T.B. Maston Christian Ethics Lectures at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon…
Baptists waiting to respond in Myanmar
YANGON, Myanmar — Days after a cyclone's widespread devastation in Myanmar, the first two planeloads of United Nations relief supplies landed in the capital, Yangon, May 8, and Baptist relief organizations are waiting to follow. Observers fear the death toll…
Methodists vote to retain policies on homosexuality
FORT WORTH, Texas (RNS) — The United Methodist Church at its General Conference in Fort Worth held to its traditional rules on homosexuality, refusing to support or celebrate same-sex unions and maintaining language that calls homosexual activity “incompatible with Christian…
Virginia Baptists weighing relief options
RICHMOND — Virginia Baptists are prepared to help victims of Myanmar's deadly cyclone but as long as the country's government blocks relief from non-governmental orgnanizations, Virginia Baptists' efforts will be delayed. Terry Raines, disaster relief coordinator for the Virginia Baptist…