Virginia Baptists' disaster relief ministries is sponsoring a trip to Florida Feb. 7-11. Participants will organize into work teams and help rebuild houses damaged in hurricanes last fall. The Virginia Baptist Mission Board is encouraging Virginia Baptist Men organizations to…
Arkansas judge rules against policy banning gay foster parents
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A judge has overturned an Arkansas state policy banning the placement of foster children in any household with a gay adult, saying the state agency that created it had unconstitutionally overstepped its bounds. Pulaski County Circuit Judge…
Virginia Baptist leader named state’s first agriculture secretary
Robert S. Bloxom, a longtime Virginia Baptist lay leader, has been named the state's first secretary of agriculture and forestry by Gov. Mark Warner. If confirmed by the General Assembly, Bloxom will be the first to hold the cabinet-level post…
Prominent church-state issues likely to resurface in 109th Congress
WASHINGTON (ABP) — As the 109th Congress goes to work in an atmosphere already charged with partisanship, legislative battles over religious and moral issues are virtually certain to remain as prominent as they were in the last session, according to…
Myers leaves campus ministry position
Michelle Myers, who has been the Virginia Baptist Mission Board's campus-based minister for the Ridge and Valley region since 2002, has resigned to move to North Carolina, where her husband has assumed a full-time pastorate. Wellford Tiller has been named…
College students ponder God’s call, their response to world’s need
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — For five days, more than 250 college students wrestled with their response to God's call to minister and the world's cry for help during the inaugural Antiphony conference at the Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham, Ala. The…
Poll: curtail Muslim rights, say 44% of Americans
Nearly half of all Americans would curtail the civil rights of Muslim-Americans in some way, according to a new survey. In the name of combating potential terrorism, 44 percent of respondents to a Cornell University survey said they agreed with…
Students looking for direction find some clarity, focus
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — They came with questions. Some wanted clarity on God's calling for their lives. Some wanted to know what to do when they grew up. There were still others questioning whether seminary was a necessary step or…
Baptist groups rush to respond to Asian tsunami disaster
WASHINGTON (ABP) — As the death toll surged past 70,000 in one of modern history's worst cataclysms, Baptist groups from around the world rushed to help survivors of the Dec. 26 South Asian tsunami disaster. Press reports on the afternoon…
Cutting money for BWA ‘opens door’ for fund-raising, McCall says
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (ABP) — While Morris Chapman says the fact retired Southern Baptist Convention leaders are now raising money for the Baptist World Alliance from SBC churches is “astounding and regrettable,” one of his predecessors as SBC chief…
Baptists work to counteract effects of damaging toxin in Mexico
DALLAS (ABP) — In the isolated villages of Ojo Caliente County in Mexico's Zacatecas state, children ride bicycles up and down small strips of concrete. Their friends spontaneously erupt in laughter during a soccer match on a small dirt field….
Missouri Baptist Convention attorneys file briefs in court of appeals
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP) — The Missouri Baptist Convention has filed an appeal in its ongoing legal battle with five affiliated entities. The MBC continues to seek to overturn revised charters for The Baptist Home, Missouri Baptist University, Missouri Baptist…