WASHINGTON (ABP) — As Congress debates immigration-reform proposals, some Christian immigration activists say there is no perfect legislation in the pipeline, but time is of the essence in getting something — anything — passed. A reform bill with broad bipartisan…
Panel debates ‘tongues’ in Baptist life; Burleson sees McKissic as SBC prez
ARLINGTON, Texas (ABP) — Wade Burleson thinks Dwight McKissic, the Texas pastor who caused a stir in the Southern Baptist Convention by acknowledging he speaks in “tongues” in private, will eventually be president of that 16-million-member group. If Burleson is…
Turkey’s few Baptists fear threats after murders, civil unrest
IZMIR, Turkey (ABP) — Turkey's handful of Baptists and other evangelical Christians fear increased persecution as the nation continues to reel from political upheaval and the brutal murder of three Christians, allegedly by radical Islamists. Meanwhile, Turkish Christians of all…
Jim Austin confirmed as executive for South Carolina Baptists
IRMO, S.C. (ABP) — Messengers to a special meeting of the South Carolina Baptist Convention April 26 voted without opposition to elect conservative Jim Austin as the new executive director-treasurer of the state convention. The vote, taken at Riverland Hills…
Non-partisan federal panel decries Iraq’s religious-freedom record
WASHINGTON (ABP) — For the first time since the United States overthrew Saddam Hussein four years ago, a non-partisan federal panel said May 2 that religious freedom in Iraq is gravely endangered. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom,…
Opinion: Communities don’t prevent violence, but they help us cope
“We are all Hokies now.” So reads a banner that appeared at a Baptist church near our home. It tries to express the empathy that most Virginians feel in the wake of the terrible murders at Virginia Tech. The school…
Worship pioneer Robert Webber dies of pancreatic cancer at 73
SAWYER, Mich. (ABP) — Robert Webber, one of the most influential figures in Christian worship during the last half century, died April 27 of pancreatic cancer in his Sawyer, Mich., home. He was 73. The author of more than 40…
Immigration ethics: Anti-immigrant rhetoric not new, historians say
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (ABP) — If American Protestants today have trouble knowing how to accept and assimilate a new wave of immigrants, they can at least take comfort in knowing their forebears wrestled with similar issues. “Americans have always struggled with…
Holy Spirit conference urges unity, decries its absence in Baptist life
ARLINGTON, Texas (ABP) — Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit it celebrates, are largely overlooked in Baptist churches, pastor Dwight McKissic said April 27 at his Baptist Conference on the Holy Spirit. That lack of awareness is Baptists' loss, according to…
Immigration ethics: Can churches legally help illegal immigrants?
CHICAGO (ABP) — Most churches feel a duty to serve and minister to anyone in need. But if that includes undocumented immigrants, legal and ethical issues emerge that many congregations don't know how to address. And it's no longer just…
Gruesome murders, Islamist candidate worry Turkish Christians, secularists
ISTANBUL (ABP) — As Turkish Christians reel from the recent brutal murders of three of their own — allegedly by radical Islamists — many Turks worry the possible election of Turkey's first devoutly Muslim president could mean more trouble. As…
Texas Baptists minister to tornado victims in Texas and Mexico
PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico (ABP) — Juan Molina doesn't remember the last tornado that hit Eagle Pass, Texas, or Piedras Negras, Mexico. And he doesn't know anyone else who recalls the last one either. So when it started to rain earlier…