WASHINGTON (ABP) — A bill that would more than triple the amount of money the United States spends combating the AIDS pandemic got a boost Feb. 27 with a compromise over abstinence-focused prevention efforts and abortion. House leaders and White…
Let’s get organized: How should churches structure leader groups?
FRESNO, Calif. (ABP) — Deserved or not, committees — especially in Baptist life — often conjure negative connotations. The term is borrowed from government and corporate culture, says Don Simmons, owner of Creative Potential Consulting and Training, a management and…
Opinion: The deeper wellsprings of centrist evangelicalism
(ABP) — Discussion of the concept of an emerging evangelical center (or some other label for an alternative to the Christian Right) has taken off in recent months — indeed, in recent weeks. Hardly a day goes by without some…
Opinion: Marriage in the marketplace
I don't wish to be thought unperceptive, but apparently the world I had always known has ended without my being aware of it. The occasion for this epiphany was a radio ad for car insurance. This commercial took the form…
Correction
In the Feb. 21 story titled “Pastor points to Muslims as source of Kenya violence; experts disagree,” please change the byline from Greg Warner to Ken Camp.
Broad U.S. religious marketplace spurs conversion, study suggests
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A massive, groundbreaking new study of the American religious landscape shows that Protestants are losing their share of the nation's population — and that the nation's broad religious diversity is paired with great religious dynamism. The Pew…
Arkansas college prof nominee for CBF moderator-elect post
ATLANTA (ABP) — Hal Bass, a professor at Ouachita Baptist University, has been nominated for the position of moderator-elect for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the group's nominating committee has announced. The panel has also recommended Joanne Carr of Georgia for…
Hardin-Simmons head Turner leaves for North Carolina post
ABILENE, Texas (ABP) — Craig Turner, the president of Texas Baptists' Hardin-Simmons University, has resigned to become president of Catawba College, a private liberal-arts school in Salisbury, N.C. His decision to resign was influenced by his family, Turner said. “The…
British Baptist pastor to aid U.N. effort to end slavery
WASHINGTON (ABP) — British Baptist pastor Steve Chalke has been appointed as a special advisor to the United Nation's Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking. Chalke, chair of Stop the Traffic, a group of 1,000 organizations in 60 countries that…
New Texas exec elected, wants to help Baptists fulfill ‘kingdom assignment’
DALLAS (ABP) — Commitment to a “kingdom assignment” — namely, ensuring that every person in Texas has the opportunity to respond to Christ by Easter 2010 — can help unite Texas Baptists, Randel Everett told the Baptist General Convention of…
CBF council approves budget, reports shortfall
ATLANTA (ABP) — Leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship approved a $16.5 million budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year and heard of budget shortfalls during the CBF Coordinating Council's Feb. 7-8 meeting in Decatur, Ga. The council's finance committee reported…
SECOND OPINION: Politics through Lenten eyes
The so-called “Christian vote” is making its quadrennial appearance in election coverage, as if “Christians” were a voting bloc that debated candidates' religious credentials and cast a unified vote for the candidate deemed most compatible with the gospel. Reality, of…