DALLAS (ABP) — Worldwide an estimated 1.6 million people die each year due directly to violence. Violence is responsible for 14 percent of all deaths among males age 15 to 44 and 7 percent of deaths of females of the…
Creating a ‘peacemaking’ church takes time, advocates say
NACOGDOCHES, Texas (ABP) — Helping a church become a peaceable fellowship is a never-ending battle, Kyle Childress acknowledged. But as Christians “wage peace” in church, they learn skills that help them build bridges in a divided world, he added. “It's…
Mediation needed when focus turns from problems to personalities
DALLAS(ABP) — When church members who disagree stop looking for solutions and start focusing on personalities, it's time to call a mediator, according to experts at a Virginia ministry that helps churches resolve conflict. Conflict becomes destructive and potentially irreconcilable…
Politics not behind Carter plan to unite Baptists, Underwood says
MACON, Ga. (ABP) — An ambitious plan to unite Baptists in North America around the compassionate message of the gospel is not secretly a plan to get Baptists to elect Hillary Clinton as president, one of the plan's leaders said…
Baptist churches more vulnerable to clergy sex abuse, experts say
DALLAS (ABP) — A recent sex scandal involving two North Texas pastors and the women who accused them of molestation is unusual because the victims — by now beyond the statute of limitations for sex-abuse cases — urged authorities and…
Groundbreaking conference gathers transgender Christian advocates
BERKELEY, Calif. (ABP) — In an event organizers billed as the first of its kind, about 40 transgender Christian leaders and their allies joined counterparts from other faiths for a “Transgender Religious Summit” Jan. 19-21 in California. Sponsors said the…
Bellevue Baptist fires minister after investigation of sex abuse
CORDOVA, Tenn. (ABP) — In the latest development in a scandal at one of the Southern Baptist Convention's largest churches, Bellevue Baptist Church fired Paul Williams Jan. 22. He had served as the minister of prayer and special projects at…
Opinion: A new alliance for creation
Wednesday in Washington I had the privilege of participating in a press conference announcing a new alliance between leading scientists and evangelicals to address threats to the well-being of God's creation. Our efforts immediately received support from a bipartisan array…
Former Salvation Army head named to top evangelical spot
WASHINGTON, D.C. (ABP) — Todd Bassett, former head of the Salvation Army, has been named executive director of the National Association of Evangelicals. Bassett will replace Ted Haggard, who resigned from the position after a Colorado man alleged Haggard paid…
Volunteer at Baptist camp faces child-pornography charges
COLUMBIA, Ill. (ABP) – A volunteer camp leader arrested for child pornography and indecent solicitation of a child met both of his victims through a camp sponsored by the Illinois Baptist State Association, according to police. While no crime is…
Update: Conservative, libertarian groups force amendment to lobbying-reform bill
WASHINGTON (ABP) — After an uproar from an odd coalition of conservative religious, libertarian and business groups, the Senate voted late Jan. 18 to scuttle part of its sweeping lobbying-reform bill. The Senate amended S. 1, known as the “Legislative…
Evangelicals join with scientists in fight against global warming
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A new alliance between prominent evangelical leaders and their secular scientific counterparts to fight global warming is drawing bipartisan support in Washington — but also has some evangelical detractors. A coalition of 28 scientists, theologians, ethicists and…