Hazel W. Mallory, 63, a longtime member of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board staff, died June 24 after a battle with cancer. She began her employment career in Richmond with the Equitable Insurance Group and for the past 31 years…
Arkansas Supreme Court overturns state’s ban on gay foster parents
LITTLE ROCK (ABP) — The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled unanimously June 29 that the state's child-welfare agency cannot ban gays from being foster parents. The ban had been the only one of its kind in the nation. The justices agreed…
Alito tips balance upholding Kansas’ death-penalty law
WASHINGTON (ABP) — New Justice Samuel Alito cast the deciding fifth vote in a June 26 Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of Kansas' death-penalty law. The high court divided closely — and acrimoniously — in the case. On a…
Former Illinois Baptist exec Maurice Swinford dies
HERRIN, Ill. (ABP) – Maurice Swinford, who led the Illinois Baptist State Association for five years until his retirement in 1993, died Saturday. He was 78. An Illinois native born in Charleston, Swinford began working for the statewide association as…
Carolyn Anderson, head of CBF Florida, announces retirement for next January
ATLANTA (ABP) — Carolyn Anderson, coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Florida since 2003, has announced her plans to retire Jan. 1. Anderson's announcement came at the June 22 CBF of Florida meeting during the Fellowship's annual general assembly…
Correction
There is an error in the 5th paragraph of the June 24 ABP story, “Episcopalians send mixed messages, Presbyterians moderate at meetings.” Please delete the second sentence of that paragraph and replace it with the following: “Only a handful of…
Shurden gives sobering warning on state of religious freedom
ATLANTA (ABP) — Warning “It can happen here,” Baptist historian Walter Shurden told religious-freedom advocates June 23 that the principle of religious freedom is threatened as never before in American history. “But many say, 'It can't happen here,'” Shurden said,…
Peaceful CBF meeting defines mission ‘in a world of need’
ATLANTA (ABP) — With a call to minister to “a world in need,” the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship began its 16th year by appointing 19 mission workers, welcoming a new missions coordinator, adopting a $17 million budget and contributing $32,801 to…
South African preacher, activist tells CBF to hear world’s ‘groans’
ATLANTA (ABP) — Maybe it takes a Methodist from South Africa to tell a bunch of Baptists in the American South that they need to wake up to reality and “step outside your own little bubble” in order to hear…
Fellowship breaks tradition with commissioning ceremony
ATLANTA (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship broke tradition June 23 during its annual general assembly in Atlanta by commissioning only short-term and self-funded mission workers, rather than any fully funded career missionaries. The group commissioned 19 new affiliated workers…
CBF members examine marks of emergent-church ‘conversation’
ATLANTA (ABP) — Atlanta church planter Jake Myers used the images of beer, candles and theologian Soren Kierkegaard to describe the “emergent conversation” taking place within Christianity, which he said could be a good fit for members of the Cooperative…
Groundbreaking CBF moderator Yee urges intercultural commitment
ATLANTA (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship must transcend mere multiculturalism to become fully intercultural, CBF moderator Joy Yee told participants at the group's general assembly in Atlanta June 22. The fellowship of traditional, progressive Baptists can be multicultural simply…