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…
Making history: BWA committee nominates first non-white general secretary
Neville Callam will make history for Baptists around the world if elected general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance. If elected in July, the 55-year-old Jamaican pastor will be the first non-white chief executive of the group, which represents approximately…
NAE rebuffs administration in anti-torture statement
The nation's umbrella group for evangelicals has endorsed a statement that takes aim at the Bush administration's alleged use of torture in the war on terrorism. Directors of the National Association of Evangelicals announced late on March 11 that they…
News about Virginia Baptists and their ministries for March 22, 2007
STAFF CHANGES Mark Hackler, to Sharon Church, Danville, as pastor. Danny Lester, to Thornburg Church, Thornburg, as pastor. Rodger Hogan, to Midland Church, Vinton, as pastor. Jerry Parker, resigning as pastor of Immanuel Church, Colonial Heights, to return to the…
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…
Torture declaration irrational, says professor
An anti-torture statement endorsed by the National Association of Evangelicals “is a moral travesty managing not only to confuse but to harm genuine evangelical witness in the culture,” a Southern Baptist ethics professor said March 15. “The main problem I…
Hammond elected as NAMB president, plans closer relationship with IMB
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (ABP) — In a unanimous vote March 21, trustees of the North American Mission Board elected Geoff Hammond as president of the Southern Baptist Convention's stateside mission body. Hammond, 49, will start full-time work for the entity May…
CBFV adopts Millennium Development Goals
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia adopted the United Nations Millennium Development Goals during its annual general assembly, March 9-10 in Richmond. The vote came at the urging of Colleen Burroughs, co-founder and executive vice president of Passport Inc., a…