JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — Dan Stringer, believed to be the only person to serve as chief executive of three Baptist conventions, died Oct. 2. He was 79. Stringer, who served the Florida Baptist Convention, Arizona Southern Baptist Convention and Northwest…
How to ‘flunk’ retirement
RICHMOND, Va. (BP) — “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away,” Gen. Douglas MacArthur observed in the twilight of his long military career. Retired missionaries, on the other hand, just keep returning to the field — or finding new…
Among first missionaries in Burma, Baptists now help refugees in U.S.
NEW YORK (ABP) — If any group in the United States has a reason to care about the people of Burma, it is Baptists. That's what Duane Binkley, a Baptist missionary to the region, said Oct. 4, the day the…
Care for the caregiver
DALLAS (BP)—No one likes to be labeled, but I am of the Baby Boomer Generation, born from 1946 to 1964. (You can just assume I am really close to the 1964 end of the spectrum.) We are mostly suburban kids…
Book by former student-body president aims to correct record on Little Rock
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (ABP) — Ralph Brodie has been waiting for 50 years to tell his side of the desegregation crisis at Little Rock Central High School. A lot of his classmates have been waiting, too. “The main thing ……
OUTLOUD
“A convergent Christian, in many ways, is what [theologian] Don Carson calls a world Christian. Their allegiance to Jesus Christ and his Kingdom is self-consciously set above all national, cultural, linguistic and racial allegiances. Their commitment to the church and…
‘In God We Trust’ motto still mints controversy after 50 years
WASHINGTON—Fifty years after “In God We Trust” first appeared on U.S. paper currency, those four little words have proven to be the source of big debate in the courts. Michael Newdow, the California atheist known for trying to strip “under…
State Department reports Iraqi insurgency hurts religious freedom
WASHINGTON (RNS)—The continuing insurgency in Iraq is significantly harming the freedom of worship in that country, the State Department said in its 2007 International Religious Freedom Report. The recently released report lists Iraq among 22 countries it notes for either…
Move over She-Hulk. Make room for Samson
HARRISBURG, Pa. (RNS)—Jesus and Moses were sold out, but consumers still could line up at the checkout counter to pay for Mary, Noah, David and a ferocious-looking Samson, packaged with Delilah in hot pink. The world of posable action figures…
FAITH DIGEST
Game designed to foster understanding. A mechanical engineer from Lincoln, Neb., has designed a question-and-answer game to promote interfaith awareness. John Cooper created “7th Heaven,” a game that tests players' knowledge of Judaism, Islam and Christianity in a way intended…
Theology, attitudes hinder Mormon entry into Christian mainstream
WASHINGTON (ABP) — While a Mormon presidential candidate continues to occupy a prominent place in the race for the White House, a recent study has found that most Americans say they know little about the practices of the Church of…
Jack Snell, Baptist pastor, mission advocate, dead at 66
ATLANTA (ABP) — Jack Snell, a well-known Baptist pastor and global missions coordinator, died Oct. 2 after a nine-month battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 66. Snell, who at the end of his life oversaw more than 150 Cooperative Baptist…