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…
Meals on Wheels workers stabbed in kitchen of North Carolina church
ATLANTA (ABP) — Two workers for Meals on Wheels were stabbed Oct. 18 at Lakeside Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, N.C. The workers, who were not members of the church, had been preparing meals in the church's kitchen. Debbie Kornegay,…
Storm damages Kentucky church, narrowly misses worshippers
ATLANTA (ABP) — Five more minutes, and a severe storm's toll at Third Baptist Church in Owensboro, Ky., could have been much worse. Roughly 100 people had gathered for a community ecumenical service Oct. 18 when a severe thunderstorm blew…
Two top Texas Baptist leaders resign: No. 2 exec Gunter, WMU chief Porterfield
DALLAS (ABP) — Ron Gunter, chief operating officer for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, has resigned. His Oct. 18 announcement came two days after Carolyn Porterfield announced her resignation as executive director-treasurer of the Woman's Missionary Union of Texas….
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…
Disappointed in ‘green’ article
I am disappointed that you chose to run such a one-sided piece as the “Being Green” article by Hannah Elliott [Herald, Oct. 4]. I do not see evidence cited to show that humans are responsible for climate change, but I…
Interest violates Scriptural command
In response to the article “Payday, someday?,” which appeared in the Oct. 4 issue, let me first of all applaud the efforts by the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy to combat the practices of payday lenders in our commonwealth….