Baptists in Maryland and Delaware were challenged to “Embrace the Call” to worship, disciple, serve and witness during their 171st annual meeting in Solomons, Md., Nov. 13-14. Robert Smith Jr., an associate professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School in…
FIRST PERSON: Oh God, it’s not my time!
Unless it was your birthday, not many of you will recall exactly where you were on the evening of Oct. 2. It wasn't a holiday. No unusual weather pattern created a crisis. It was just an ordinary old Monday, the…
Maryland court to hear arguments in marriage case
For a few months at least, the epicenter of the nationwide legal debate over gay marriage will reside in Maryland. The state's highest court was to hear oral arguments Monday, Dec. 4, in a case that could make the Old…
In the beginning
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! But not on April 4, 1987, of all days. It was our first meeting to organize the Virginia Baptist Secretaries Association and it did snow. In fact, several groups from the…
BGCT to turn over probe results to law enforcement
Officials with the Baptist General Convention of Texas will give law-enforcement agencies the documents produced by an independent investigation that revealed financial malfeasance in its church-starting efforts. Executive Director Charles Wade will provide officials “complete copies of a BGCT-commissioned investigative…
Warren, Obama dismiss criticism of AIDS conference at Saddleback
A star evangelical pastor and a star Democratic senator have fired back at anti-abortion leaders who criticized an AIDS conference designed to rally Christians to fight the global pandemic. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif.; and…
Opinion: Waiting with a purpose
When I was giving birth to our first child, one of the nurses asked my husband how he was doing, since he was just standing there, having nothing to do but watch me struggle through labor. My husband, who would…
Rick who?
If Britney Spears, Denzel Washington and James Dobson were in a lineup, most Americans would know the first two but draw a blank on the evangelical leader. A new study by the Barna Group found that a majority of Americans,…
Correction
In the Dec. 6 ABP article “Leaders at Texas conference join McKissic's call for more freedom,” the following quote in the 18th paragraph should be attributed to Benjamin Cole, not Wade Burleson: “It's not about the public use of speaking…
Baptist’s anti-Muslim remarks appear on Arab news network
Anti-Muslim remarks by a Missouri Baptist executive have made their way onto Al-Jazeerah, the pre-eminent news network in the Arab world. In an Oct. 30 speech to the Missouri Baptist Convention, Executive Director David Clippard said: “Today, Islam has a…
Seasonal meals for homeless bring lovebirds together
DALLAS (ABP) — Two formerly homeless Dallasites found food and shelter through a Baptist church — and much more. They found each other, found a new life together in Christ, and now have found a way to bless others less…
ABC Board confirms decisions to sell building, elect leader
Leaders of the American Baptist Churches USA have approved selling the “Holy Doughnut”—the organization's Pennsylvania headquarters building—and confirmed the appointment of a new head for the denomination's international missions organization. The ABC's General Board voted nearly unanimously Nov. 14 to…