Sixty years ago a young married couple, recent graduates of the prestigious Westminster Choir College and still in their 20s, arrived on the Virginia Baptist scene and almost immediately made contributions which had lasting results. Jim and Hattie Copeland came…
Assistant editor Elliott opens ABP’s New York bureau
NEW YORK (ABP) — Associated Baptist Press has launched a news bureau in the world's media capital, New York. ABP Assistant Editor Hannah Elliott opened the independent news service's New York bureau March 15, a little more than a year…
Dobson backtracks on remarks questioning Thompson’s faith
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (ABP) — Focus on the Family head James Dobson is attempting to deflect criticism for his recent comments that questioned the Christian faith of a potential Republican presidential candidate. Dobson, through a spokesman for the Colorado-based organization,…
Not just for Sundays anymore: papers rethink religion section
NEW YORK (ABP) — On March 24, the Dallas Morning News received the Religion Communicators Council award for the nation's best religion section. It was the 10th time in 11 years the News had won. Unfortunately for the News, there's…
Opinion: Formation and malformation in the body of Christ
The recent meeting of the Mainstream Baptist Network was the predictable celebration of “freedom” as the cornerstone of what it means to be Baptist. I will note only in passing the irony of a group that describes itself as “mainstream”…
Relationships key component to help immigrants, Baptist workers say
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (ABP) — Every afternoon, Felicitas does something she thought might never happen. She meets the school bus near her Virginia apartment complex to pick up her son, Carlos, as he returns from another day of elementary school. Carlos…
Evangelical leaders, Kennedy unite on immigration reform
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…