BWA's Coffey honored by Queen. The president of the Baptist World Alliance became an officer of the Order of the British Empire Jan. 2. David Coffey, a Briton who has served as the BWA's president since 2005, recevied the honor…
Seminary student charged with abuse
RALEIGH, N.C. (ABP) — Police have charged a Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary student with sexually abusing a 10-year-old child at an after-hours YMCA program, re-emphasizing the growing problem of sex abuse among Southern Baptist clergy. It's not the first time…
Time to revamp discipleship methods?
More than two decades after he helped many Baptist churches breathe new life into discipleship training, Roy Edgemon believes it's time take a new look at how churches make disciples. In the early 1980s, the Southern Baptist Convention's Sunday School…
VBMB announces members of Virginia Baptist all-state choirs
RICHMOND — Children and youth in grades 4-12 who have been accepted into the 2008 Virginia Baptist All-State Choirs have been announced. The singers were nominated and auditioned to participate, according to Tom Ingram, worship and spiritual development consultant at…
SECOND OPINION: God’s New Year Resolutions for the church
To My Church, Do you remember when my son said, “Whoever puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for service in the Kingdom?” I hope you don't think he meant to never think about the…
New Hampshire exit-poll statistics muddy picture of religious voters
WASHINGTON (ABP) — In the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary, each party's newly minted front-runner didn't score as well among voters — religious or otherwise — as they did in the previous week's Iowa caucuses, according to exit-poll data. Hillary…
Vietnamese Baptists to hold first general conference
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (ABP) — Baptists in Vietnam will reach a milestone when they hold their first legal national conference Jan. 10-12. An expected 400 people from 13 southern provinces and cities are expected for the meeting in…
Attempt at dialogue with Muslims inspires further criticism of NAE
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The National Association of Evangelicals is under attack again from some prominent Christian conservatives, this time for its involvement in an attempt at Muslim-Christian dialogue. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler, former presidential candidate Gary Bauer…
Christians in Kenya analyze violence, administer aid, as unrest continues
NAIROBI, Kenya (ABP) — Still-simmering violence sparked by disputed elections in Kenya continues to affect Baptist organizations and missionaries in the previously stable nation. Gunfire erupted Jan. 7 in Limuru, a small town less than half a mile from Kenya…
Investigators say arson unlikely in Jacksonville church fire
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — There is no evidence of arson in the Dec. 23 fire that consumed the sanctuary of Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., but the destruction was so complete that the exact cause will likely never…
Opinion: Care about politics? Begin with the church
Politics is intoxicating, especially in election season, and especially in a time of such high drama in this particular presidential campaign. In future weeks, I will undoubtedly be writing about the elections of 2008. But in this first offering of…
Time to revamp discipleship methods? Some experts say, ‘Absolutely, yes’
(ABP) — More than two decades after he helped many Baptist churches breathe new life into discipleship training, Roy Edgemon believes it's time to take a new look at how churches make disciples. In the early 1980s, the Southern Baptist…