WASHINGTON (ABP) — A bipartisan array of Congress members and evangelical leaders exhorted their colleagues March 29 on the moral necessity of immigration reform. Leaders from across the ideological spectrum — from Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)…
Clinton urges support for conservation, development in speech at Baptist school
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. (ABP) — Former President Bill Clinton, delivering a speech as a “personal favor” for his former pastor March 27, encouraged students at Ouachita Baptist University to help solve the problems of a rapidly changing, increasingly interdependent world. Clinton…
Evangelist Rick Ousley withdraws from speaking circuit after affair
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Baptist pastor and football chaplain Rick Ousley, founder of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala., has temporarily withdrawn from his evangelistic ministry after admitting to an extramarital affair. Ousley and the directors of his…
The Well Community singular in goal to work with mentally disabled
DALLAS (ABP) — Joel Pulis, a Baylor University graduate now living in Dallas, was recently featured in People magazine for leading his church in a relatively new and singular mission: to reach poor people with mental disabilities. Pulis, 33, refers…
McKissic and Southwestern trustees make peace over ‘prayer language’
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — Texas pastor Dwight McKissic and his fellow trustees at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary have apparently decided to make peace, despite their previous public disagreements about a private “prayer language.” In a March 27 statement, trustee…
Church’s offering for Reccord raises questions about six-figure severance
SALISBURY, N.C. (ABP) — Former missions leader Bob Reccord preached a revival last week in a North Carolina church where congregants were asked to give a sacrificial “love offering” because preaching is Reccord's “only source of income” — one year…
Mohler’s office subject of sit-in by gay-rights group
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — A Southern Baptist seminary president's recent controversial comments on homosexuality caused a gay-rights group to target his office with a sit-in March 26, leading to 12 arrests. Members of Soulforce, a religious gay-rights group, detoured their…
African couple wins human rights award from Baptist World Alliance
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — Officials at the Baptist World Alliance have, for the first time, honored a Baptist couple for their commitment to human rights. Joao and Nora Matwawana, residents of Nova Scotia, will receive BWA's 2007 Denton and…
Baylor engineering team sparks electricity in Honduran village
WACO, Texas (ABP) — Grad student Ryan McGhee has spent nearly all of his free time in the last several months doing one thing — building an electrical turbine. But despite the tool's seemingly pedestrian function, McGhee calls his work…
Ohio administration cuts contract with faith group, investigates office
COLUMBUS, Ohio (ABP) — Amid an investigation into the actions of the state's office of faith-based initiatives, Ohio officials have terminated a contract with a large organization closely tied to President Bush's efforts to fund government services through religious charities….
Procter & Gamble wins $19 million judgment over Satanism rumors
SALT LAKE CITY (ABP) — For those who needed any more reasons to discount the decades-old rumor that one of America's largest and oldest consumer-products companies was in league with Satan, a federal jury recently provided about 19 million of…
Former BGAV president elected to lead BTSR
Florida pastor Ronald W. Crawford, a former Virginia pastor who was president of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, was named president-elect of Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond by the school's board of trustees March 19. Crawford currently serves as…