To borrow from Abe Lincoln, “God must have loved small churches because he made so many of them.” One of them is Chatham Baptist Church, set to celebrate its 150th anniversary this summer. Chatham Baptist is much like many other…
After nurses, clergy rank among nation’s most ethical
DALLAS (ABP) — Americans may trust their pastors almost as much as they trust their nurses. That's according to a Dec. 12 USA Today/Gallup Poll. For the sixth year in a row, nursing topped the list as the most ethical…
BCM at Longwood hosts 2 days of continuous prayer
The Baptist Student Center at Longwood University hosted 48 hours of continuous prayer Nov. 17-19, joined by all seven Christian campus organizations at the school. Beginning at 7 p.m. Friday night, students came for hour-long shifts to pray for the…
Group asks to widen Pentagon probe to see if evangelical group given aid
ARLINGTON, Va. (ABP) — A watchdog group wants to know if high-ranking Pentagon officials not only allowed uniformed officers to appear in a video promoting an evangelical ministry, but also if they gave the ministry Pentagon office space or any…
Church revival
Loudoun County's Ketoctin Baptist Church has an outhouse instead of a bathroom. White painted numbers beneath the front gable date the brick building to 1854, and a plaque inside proclaims the congregation has been teaching “plain and simple truth since…
BWA, ABC leaders participate in Baptist-Catholic dialogue
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — American Baptists and representatives of the Baptist World Alliance are participating in the latest installment of a Baptist-Catholic dialogue that began in 1990. The latest meeting began with a Dec. 11 convocation at Samford University in…
No ‘Hog’ hereafter: Ga. church votes to purge piggy name
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (ABP) — A Baptist church in a rapidly growing part of Georgia is no longer sitting high on the hog, thanks to a recent name-changing vote. And some longtime members of the 152-year-old congregation as well as those…
Japanese university names former Southern Baptist missionary as president
FUKUOKA, Japan (ABP) — A Japanese university founded by Southern Baptist missionaries has named one as its new president. Trustees of Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka, Japan, have elected Gary Barkley as the school's ninth president. Barkley will be the…
BGCT gives authorities information about alleged misuse of funds
DALLAS (ABP) — The Baptist General Convention of Texas has given authorities information about the alleged misuse of the convention's church-starting funds between 1999 and 2005. A convention representative gave officials at the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District…
Watchdog group wants Pentagon inquiry in evangelical group’s video promo
ARLINGTON, Va. (ABP) — The influence of evangelical Christians in the military's highest ranks is again under question, after complaints about an evangelical group's promotional video that features several top-ranking Pentagon officers, some in uniform. The Pentagon inspector general's office…
Opinion: A glimmer of hope for Iraq
This recent report of the Iraq Study Group offers a welcome infusion of wisdom and bipartisanship in the tortured struggle over what to do about Iraq. The carefully written report offers the only glimmer of hope recently seen in this…
For Christians, ‘Nativity’ overcomes mixed reviews, potential scandal
LOS ANGELES (ABP) — One week after its debut, a movie based on the Gospels' simple Nativity narrative is spurring optimism among Christian film fans, who seem willing to overlook potentially scandalous news about one of the movie's stars. “The…