GAZA CITY, Palestine (ABP) — In the latest violence among warring Palestinian factions, a bomb severely damaged the Palestinian Bible Society building April 15 in Gaza City. The building, located in the city center, housed the Teacher's Bookshop, Gaza's only…
Baptist colleges prepare strategies for dealing with campus incidents
BELTON, Texas (ABP) — Police cars and fire engines lined the streets on the north side of the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor campus April 18. Paramedics carried students on stretchers and loaded them into ambulances. This time, it was just…
Refugees from Myanmar find New York, Baptist connections
BUFFALO, N.Y. (ABP) — Two Baptist missionaries, after serving 15 years in Thailand, have been reassigned to work with thousands of Karen refugees in the United States and Thailand. The move is noteworthy because the United States recently changed a…
Wife of slain pastor convicted of voluntary manslaughter
SELMER, Tenn. (ABP) — Mary Winkler, the wife of a slain Church of Christ pastor in Tennessee, was convicted April 19 of voluntary manslaughter, a lesser charge than the prosecution wanted. Winkler, 33, was charged in the 2006 slaying of…
Va. Tech: Some Christian leaders offer solace; others blame ‘godlessness’
BLACKSBURG, Va. (ABP) — Christian leaders have begun to respond to the April 16 tragedy at Virginia Tech with words of solace — while a few blame the tragedy on America's 'godlessness.' Most haven't attempted to explain the massacre, saying…
Five Baptist-affiliated students among 32 dead at Va. Tech
RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — At least six of the 32 dead in the April 16 massacre at Virginia Tech had ties to Baptist churches in Virginia, say Baptist leaders who are monitoring emerging details of the deadly shooting. MSNBC has…
Churches seeking pastors put plenty of hooks in the water
RICHMOND—What's in a name? For churches seeking a new minister, the bottom line is collecting names of candidates—and lots of them. That's not always an easy task, and search committees typically discover it takes a variety of approaches to create…
Florida pastor leads church to ministry-based evangelism
Charles Roesel served as the pastor of First Baptist Church, Leesburg, Fla., for almost 30 years. He retired in the spring of 2006. Under his leadership First Baptist, Leesburg, was in the top 1 percent of the nation in evangelism…
Self-examination benefits church with pastor, too
PLAINVIEW, Texas—At some point, every church needs to step back and re-evaluate its purpose. Micheal Summers, Wayland Baptist University's director of church services, believes an intentional interim minister can most effectively lead churches through that process, but churches with pastors…
Masters winner buoyed by faith, marriage
The day before Johnson won the tournament April 8, J.B. Collingsworth, president of the Marriage and Family Matters ministry, sent the golfer a text message of Psalm 16:8: “I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at…
Herald launches publishing partnership with Baptist media
RICHMOND — The Religious Herald has launched a publishing partnership with three other Baptist news organizations which will allow it to expand its news coverage and offer more attractive and dynamic design features. Joining the Herald in the venture —…
Baptist Briefs
ABP opens New York bureau. Associated Baptist Press has launched a news bureau in New York City. ABP Assistant Editor Hannah Elliott opened the independent news service's New York bureau March 15, a little more than a year after she…