WASHINGTON (ABP) — Jim Wallis and Richard Land agree that faith should influence public policy. They just can't agree on how. The two evangelical leaders — one conservative, one progressive — locked horns in an Oct. 19 debate at the…
‘Values voters’ prefer Romney, Huckabee; Giuliani finishes disappointing 8th
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Voters in an Oct. 20 straw poll seemed to confirm what many pundits have said all along: Conservative Christians simply will not support a presidential candidate who backs abortion rights. In the second-largest straw poll of this…
Revival of the arts
FALLS CHURCH (ABP)—Architect Larry Cook believes “any building completely devoid of art is devoid of spirituality.” The Virginian is one of a growing number of architects who welcome the return of symbolism and spirituality to church buildings. After decades of…
Baptist World Alliance welcomes peace letter from Muslim scholars
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A letter asking for peace between Muslims and Christians received a warm welcome from leaders of the Baptist World Alliance Oct. 17. Signed by more than 130 Muslim scholars, theologians and clerics, the 29-page tome asked for…
Bluefield College celebrates 8th annual Baptist Heritage Day
BLUEFIELD—Bluefield College celebrated its history Oct. 3 with an annual Baptist Heritage Day ceremony on campus, featuring a keynote address from an authority on Baptist life, Boyce Brannock, president of the Baptist General Association of Virginia. For the eighth consecutive…
FIRST PERSON: 225 years for Northwest church
CHESAPEAKE — Rarely does a church celebrate a 225th anniversary. One such church is Northwest Baptist Church in Chesapeake. This church predates the Portsmouth Baptist Association by nine years. Dating back to 1782, when the church was called North Upper…
Christian men gather on National Mall
WASHINGTON—In numbers that were far fewer but with a faith that was nonetheless fervent, evangelical Christian men gathered in the shadow of the Washington Monument Oct. 6 for a day of spiritual renewal that recalled a much larger meeting of…
SBC president addresses Lynchburg congregation
LYNCHBURG—On Wednesday evening, Oct. 10, West Lynchburg Baptist Church hosted Southern Baptist Convention president Frank Page in a special worship service in what Page called his first visit to Virginia since his election. Speaking to a crowd—including some from other…
EDITORIAL: Pastor-church relations
I remember how clear and cold it was on that New Mexico morning as I sat sipping coffee with two pastors at the Glorieta Conference Center. At the time, in the mid-1980s, I was editing The Deacon, a publication of…
Welcoming the strangers
“The influx of large numbers of people from foreign parts has always been regarded as dangerous to American institutions, civil and religious,” said the speaker at the annual meeting of the General Association in 1885. The meeting was held at…
SECOND OPINION: Immigration — What should churches do?
Let's face it: Global migrations in the 21st century will not disappear just because of wishful thinking. According to the “Fact File: Global Migrations” of the BBC, in the year 2002, while 630 million were native born, 175 million people…
SECOND OPINION: Imprecatory prayer: Is invoking a curse a valid part of prayer?
Editor's note: Former Southern Baptist Convention second vice president and California pastor Wiley Drake recently called for Christians to pray for God's judgment to fall on leaders of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which had encouraged the…