WASHINGTON (ABP) – The director of a unique federal panel charged with promoting religious freedom worldwide has died after a struggle with cancer. Joseph Crapa, executive director of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, died Oct. 25, according…
Missouri convention overwhelmingly rejects Moran-allied candidates
OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (ABP) — For the first time in eight years, messengers to the Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting have rejected a slate of officer candidates allied with an organized fundamentalist faction. Meeting Oct. 29-31 at a resort on…
Developer says foreclosure averted on former Windermere acreage
CAMDENTON, Mo. (ABP) — A refinancing agreement with a bank means private development will move forward on land adjacent to Missouri Baptists' Windermere Baptist Conference Center. Corporate representative Jerry Hill confirmed Oct. 25 that a foreclosure notice has been served…
BWA leader urges U.S. Baptists to cooperate
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — Declaring that “the mission of God in this century of glorious mission opportunity needs as much unity as possible,” Baptist World Alliance President David Coffey is calling on his Baptist brethren in America to set aside…
Churches mobilize to repair fire damage while investigators search for arsonists
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (ABP) — With 11 of the 20 fires that burned through Southern California contained, churches are turning their attention to disaster relief, while investigators are setting their sights on justice, since officials have announced that at least…
Warren challenges Baptists to promote peace worldwide, starting in Texas
AMARILLO, Texas (ABP) — Developing a heart for missions can be simple, according to best-selling author and California pastor Rick Warren. “If you want the blessing of God in your life, the power of God in your life, the anointing…
Opinion: God exists. The real question is, do you?
Christopher Hitchins has been barnstorming the country of late promoting his most recent book, god is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, making an argument similar to Richard Dawkins in God is a Delusion. Like the Philistine champion of old,…
Tennessee Baptists gear up for struggle over trustees
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (ABP) — Tennessee Baptists are gearing up to fight a battle that most Southern Baptist state conventions finished a decade ago. Many of the state's moderates feel it is no longer worth fighting. Nonetheless, some conservatives and moderates…
Annual meeting of Baptists in Texas sees election of woman, budget approval
AMARILLO, Texas (ABP) — Messengers to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting narrowly elected the first woman president of the state convention — and continued a two-decade string of officers endorsed by the moderate Texas Baptists Committed organization….
Baptist convention in Texas elects first woman as president
AMARILLO, Texas (ABP) — Messengers to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting narrowly elected the state body's first female president and continued a two-decade string of officers endorsed by the moderate Texas Baptists Committed organization. Joy Fenner, a…
Texas Baptists introduce motion of ‘no confidence’ in board leaders
AMARILLO, Texas (ABP) — A motion expressing “no confidence” in the directors of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, as well as a competing motion objecting to it, were introduced during the Oct. 29 afternoon session at the group's annual…
Tennessee church helps Katrina survivor with MS rebuild home, life
ATLANTA (ABP) — When Sonia St. Cyr survived Hurricane Katrina, she called it lucky. When she was flown out of the city during its aftermath, she called it unbelievable. But when she arrived at a Maryville, Tenn., evacuee shelter and…