AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) — As national civil-rights champion Rosa Parks lay in honor in the United States Capitol Oct. 31, a local pioneer in advancing the cause of racial justice died in Texas. Volma Overton, a longtime civil-rights activist in…
Conference to offer youth multidimensional view of faith
ORLANDO (ABP) — More than 1,600 youth from Baptist, Episcopalian and Presbyterian traditions will get a three-dimensional view of Christianity during a youth conference in January. And, oh yes, they get to go to Disney World. “Faith in 3D” is…
Confirmation of Alito would shift court firmly to right, experts say
WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Bush's nomination of federal appeals judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court could shift the court firmly to the right — immediately and for decades to come — on issues such as abortion rights and the…
Waco pastor Kyle Lake killed in freak baptism accident
WACO, Texas (ABP) — Kyle Lake, 33-year-old pastor of the innovative University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, was electrocuted and died Oct. 30 after he grabbed a microphone while in a baptistry full of water. According to eyewitness reports, Lake…
Experts warn electrocution dangers lurk around church baptistries
WACO, Texas (ABP) — Electricity and water create a potentially deadly combination, but metal — not microphones themselves — present the greatest danger to people in baptistries, according to acoustic and church-building consultants. The issue came to the forefront when…
Missouri Baptists narrow membership to exclude CBF, moderate churches
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (ABP) — The Missouri Baptist Convention is no longer open to churches that support any other organization considered to compete with the state convention or the Southern Baptist Convention. The changes will shut out congregations that participate in…
Baylor will reduce board size; is it efficiency or politics?
WACO, Texas (ABP) — Baylor University regents approved a charter change to downsize the school's governing board from 36 to 16 members over nine years and agreed to a 7.8 percent tuition hike for 2006-07. Chairman Will Davis of Austin…
Missiouri Baptists to vote again on church loyalty to SBC
No congregation could be a Missouri Baptist Convention church without cooperating with the Southern Baptist Convention, if a constitutional amendment is passed this week. Requiring a church to cooperate with the national convention would be a departure from Baptist tradition….
Change announced for Pastors Conference
A change in schedule has been announced for the Virginia Baptist Pastors Conference, which is set to meet Nov. 9, just prior to the annual meeting of the Baptist General Association of Virginia. An unscheduled conflict will prevent well-known preacher…