“To be faithful to the gospel may mean death.” The words were spoken so calmly and matter-of-factly that their incredible impact caught me off guard. There I was, sitting in a meeting of the Baptist World Alliance's Freedom and Justice…
A miracle in Franklin County!
On Sunday, June 4, the members and friends of the Franklin Heights Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia, entered their new sanctuary for the first time. It was a moment which was long anticipated. When 6-year-old Cassidy James Anderson entered…
ANOTHER VIEW: Give him the glory!
(BP) — I firmly am convinced that Southern Baptists need to renew their understanding of who is in charge, of who has the power and who sets the agenda. This day, I call on all Southern Baptists to reaffirm that…
Interest in ‘closed’ country missions increasingly popular, mission boards say
DALLAS (ABP) — An increase in the number of Baptists serving in “closed” countries could lead to more incidents like a recent group from Texas experienced when they became trapped in Lebanon. As a result of Hezbollah military strikes and…
House passes bill attempting to intervene in cross dispute
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The House of Representatives passed a little-noticed bill July 19 attempting to make it easier for a controversial cross to remain on public land in San Diego. On a vote of 349-74, the chamber approved a bill…
As U.S. missionaries are reported safe, Lebanese Baptists describe suffering
BEIRUT (ABP) — As United States Marines began evacuating Americans in earnest from a besieged Beirut July 19 and U.S. Baptist groups reported their missionaries in the region safe, a Lebanese Baptist leader said his people's suffering would seem “quite…
Independent government study suggests lack of safeguards for religious grants
WASHINGTON (ABP) — An independent government study has found that federal programs providing grants to religious organizations do not sufficiently safeguard the separation of church and state. The determination echoes analysis by experts in the field and critics of President…
Bush uses first veto in office on popular stem-cell bill
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Simultaneously pleasing his socially conservative base and overruling large majorities in Congress and the public, President Bush used the first veto of his political career July 19 to kill a bill that would have expanded embryonic stem-cell…
House passes bill to strip courts of ability to hear pledge cases
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Angering civil libertarians and supporters of church-state separation, the House of Representatives voted July 19 to strip the federal courts of the ability to decide cases involving the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools. The so-called “Pledge…
As expected, House again defeats Federal Marriage Amendment
WASHINGTON (ABP) — As expected, the House of Representatives July 18 defeated a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage — for the second time in as many election years and after the Senate had defeated the same proposal. Known by its…
Bugg to step down from post as Gardner-Webb dean
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. (ABP) — Barely a year after he became dean of Gardner-Webb University's school of divinity, Charles Bugg has resigned from the position. Bugg, who assumed the position in June 2005, as dean of Gardner-Webb University's school of…
For Baptists, libation debate continues in pages of Dallas Morning News
DALLAS (ABP) — Two prominent players in the Southern Baptist Convention's debate over alcohol consumption have taken it to a new forum — a major secular newspaper. On July 15, the Dallas Morning News ran an essay by Daniel Akin,…