WASHINGTON (ABP) — More than 2,500 Baptists gathered June 28-29 for the annual Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Washington. For the first time, it featured a joint gathering with the American Baptist Churches USA. The service in Washington's convention center marked…
Correction
In the June 26th ABP story, “Southern Baptists in California create competing state convention,” please replace the first sentence of the 8th paragraph with the following: Wilson said 25 percent of the money contributed by his congregation to denominational missions…
Truett’s famed religious liberty sermon recreated at D.C. event
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Eighty-seven years after George Truett thundered a call for separation of church and state to more than 10,000 Southern Baptists gathered in the nation's capital, a smaller but more diverse group of Baptists paid tribute to the…
CBF moderator McCall says God’s covenant gives Christians responsibility
WASHINGTON (ABP) — God's covenant with Christians “places the responsibility for being the presence of Christ squarely on our shoulders,” Emmanuel McCall told participants at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship general assembly June 28. God is a covenant-keeping God, insisted McCall,…
Baptist sex-traffic mission worker urges others to ‘show up’ for ministry
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The key to ministry in Jesus' name — even in difficult and dangerous places — is to “show up,” Lauran Bethell told participants in the William H. Whitsitt Baptist Heritage Society annual meeting. Bethell, an American Baptist…
CBF panelists urge Baptists to see ‘humanity’ of AIDS crisis
WASHINGTON (ABP) — AIDS asks one question: Are you human? That's what Genie Hargrove told participants in a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship panel discussion on HIV/AIDS. Churches must see the humanity behind the crisis, she said. Hargrove, pastor of Beulah Baptist…
Youth Encounter 2007: A year of transformation
RICHMOND — With transformation as its theme, Virginia Baptists' 20-year-old Youth Evangelism Conference (YEC) has been transformed and is now Youth EnCounter 2007. The new YEC features a new name, new location, new schedule and more quality programming to transform…
Women in ministry report highlights progress, obstacles simultaneously
WASHINGTON (ABP) — While moderate and progressive Baptists continue to grow in their theoretical support for women as pastors, their churches remain far behind in practice. That's one conclusion from the second annual “State of Women in Baptist Life” report,…
Charlottesville pastor receives Bronze Star for meritorious service as Army chaplain
RICHMOND — For more than 200 years, since the establishment of the nation during the Revolutionary War, chaplains have provided spiritual nourishment to American soldiers in battle. In recent decades, they've worked in an increasingly treacherous environment, in order to…
Author, at ‘post-partisan’ event, says churches must develop pluralism
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Sharing, responsibility and teamwork figured prominently into Eboo Patel's speech June 27 at the New American Foundation. Patel, executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core, wasn't teaching proper playground etiquette; he was discussing the importance of establishing…
The legacy of Miss Lu
Lucretia O. Litchfield of Petersburg died a wealthy woman on June 14. She was rich beyond measure in the values that make life sparkle, in the relationships that make life worthwhile, and in the years which made her life long…
Analysis: Courts only slightly less open to church-state suits after Hein case
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Church-state experts said the Supreme Court, in a June 25 decision that limited taxpayers' ability to sue the government over violations of religious freedom, didn't go as far as it could have. However, they agreed, the ruling…