ATLANTA (ABP) — More than 1.7 million Chinese children under the age of 13 have cerebral palsy. Because of poverty, limited medical services, and China's laws limiting each family to one child, these children are often abandoned to starvation, isolation…
Buckner names Reyes president of family services division
DALLAS (ABP) — In a move with implications for three Baptist General Convention of Texas organizations, Albert Reyes has been named president of Buckner Children and Family Services, which is being revamped to expand its ministries throughout the United States…
Legislative bodies in South Africa, Mexico legalize same-sex marriage
JOHANNESBURG (ABP) — The South African Parliament voted overwhelmingly Nov. 14 to legalize same-sex marriage in the nation, making it Africa's first — and one of only a handful of jurisdictions in the world — to remove legal barriers to…
Conservatives win battles during Tennessee Baptist Convention
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (ABP) — Conservative Southern Baptist Convention loyalists won battles over doctrinal matters, offices and nominations during the Tennessee Baptist Convention's annual meeting Nov. 14-15. Messengers to the convention, meeting at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, voted overwhelmingly Nov….
Arizona voters nation’s first to reject amendment banning gay marriage
Although 27 other states since 1998 have approved amendments to their state constitutions banning gay marriage, Arizona voters bucked the national trend. With 100 percent of the state's precincts reporting by midday Nov. 8, according to the Arizona secretary of…
CBF names first coordinator for U.S. disaster response
Charles Ray, a long-time Little Rock, Ark., resident, has been named the first coordinator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's U.S.-based disaster response team. He'll begin his new position Jan. 1, 2007. The two-year position was created through a partnership between…
Pewboy knows
Altar Ego sighed with relief when he finally found Pewboy. Altar Ego: “Excuse me, Pewboy, do you have a few minutes to talk?” He had interrupted the Baptist layman as he arranged stacks of bulletins on tables beside the sanctuary…
Thanks to VBMB
Praise the Lord for the Virginia Baptist Mission Board! On Oct. 28, Gary Chapman came to our church to lead a workshop on “How to Teach the Bible.” He did an excellent job. It was evident that he put a…
ANOTHER VIEW: Big faith on the big screen
Hollywood has been abuzz lately with the big news that more faith-based movies like The Passion of the Christ and Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe are on the way, but the reaction so far has…
On church democracy
It was on Election Day that this column was written. It was early in the morning and this columnist had yet to add his one vote to the process. The mid-term election campaigns of 2006 were among the ugliest in…
ANOTHER VIEW: You are what you eat
If you've never been to a “McDonald's Night,” consider yourself lucky. Now in theory, this is a “win-win” proposition: a fundraiser for my children's school and a night out of the kitchen. It has never been truer, alas, that the…
News about Virginia Baptists and their ministries for November 16, 2006
Staff Changes Frank Duncan, to James Square Church, Lawrenceville, as pastor. Doug Frazier, to Bybee's Road Church, Troy, as pastor, effective Dec. 3. Stephen Byrd, to Glade Spring Church, Glade Spring, as interim pastor. Stephen Farrar, to First Church, Galax,…