NEW YORK (ABP) — Debbie Vasquez was 14 when her pastor started touching her inappropriately. She was 15 when he raped her and 19 when she had his baby. Tina Boyd first was molested at age 11. Later, she was…
Betrayed trust: Sexual predators fly under the radar at church
NEW YORK (ABP) — Most people think they can spot a sexual predator. He’s the pale loner with greasy hair and quivering lips. Or the grinning lech who hugs too long and slowly rubs the backs of female church members….
SBC missions celebrate 300 years, look to future of associations
SAN ANTONIO (ABP) — Unless associational leaders pray for and work with their churches, they run the risk of becoming “as obsolete as a horse and buggy in a NASCAR world,” Jim Henry of Orlando, Fla., admonished Southern Baptist directors…
U.S. Latino believers prefer worship in Spanish and in the Spirit, study says
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Hispanic believers in the United States prefer “spirit-filled religious expression” and gravitate toward a “distinctively ethnic” worship experience, opting to go to church with other Hispanics and speak Spanish when they get there, according to a recent…
House again passes stem-cell bill as new study suggests solution
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The House of Representatives again approved a bill June 7 that would expand embryonic stem-cell research. But the move came just one day after the release of a scientific study suggesting scientists may, in the future, find…
Calvinist churches targeted by Florida Baptist Convention
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — Some Baptists in this state say the Florida Baptist Convention is intimidating and demonizing churches that believe in Calvinism — and doing it with the churches' own money. Convention executive director John Sullivan last week sent…
Service-weary pastors stave off stress by scheduling ‘personal Sabbaths’
DALLAS (ABP) — Consummate counselor, powerful preacher, lasting leader. These are descriptions often used to characterize a respected pastor. Avid fisherman and beach bum are not. But Bruce Prindle, pastor of First Baptist Church in Midlothian, Texas, values fishing and…
Religious leaders, Clinton decry loss of ‘family values’ in immigration bill
NEW YORK (ABP) — Shortly before the immigration-reform bill failed a crucial test vote June 7, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) religious leaders decried an aspect of the complex compromise proposal they view as anti-family. The Senate rejected a Clinton-sponsored amendment…
Huckabee denounces influence of cash, evolution queries in GOP race
WASHINGTON (ABP) — If conservative Christian voters want to know why a Baptist preacher is being bested in the GOP primary polls by three candidates who have had rocky relationships with the Religious Right, they need to look at the…
Rick Warren, BWA president to speak at Texas Baptist annual meeting
DALLAS (ABP) — Rick Warren, heralded as “America's new people's pastor,” will speak Oct. 29 at the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting. David Coffey, president of the Baptist World Alliance, will also speak at the meeting in Amarillo,…
Falwell’s son Jonathan takes helm of late father’s Va. megachurch
LYNCHBURG, Va. (ABP) — Jonathan Falwell, son of the late Jerry Falwell, will become pastor of the 24,000-member church his dad founded more than 50 years ago. Members of Thomas Road Baptist Church elected Jonathan Falwell, 40, in a unanimous…
In unique event, Democratic hopefuls respond to queries on faith, poverty
WASHINGTON (ABP) — On national television June 4, John Edwards admitted that he sins every day, Barack Obama said there's “a biblical injunction” to give prisoners the tools they need to rehabilitate themselves, and Hillary Clinton said the support of…