COVINA, Calif. (ABP) — In what may be the beginnings of a national split over homosexuality, leaders in a regional group of the American Baptist Churches USA voted Sept. 8 to begin leaving the denomination. Directors of the American Baptist…
Roberts discusses abortion, faith in first round of questioning
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, in his first day of questioning before a Senate panel, danced delicately around questions about how he would rule on abortion but also said he wouldn't let his personal faith and or…
Louisiana paper changes vote, will accept convention control
ALEXANDRIA, La. (ABP) — Just 14 weeks after rejecting the idea, trustees of the Baptist Message of Louisiana voted 6-1 Aug. 30 to dissolve their board and move the newspaper under the control of the Executive Board of the Louisiana…
With hospitals closed, Baptist volunteer helps fill medical need in hurricane zone
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (ABP) — For residents of this coastal town devastated by Hurricane Katrina, seeing their hospital disabled by the storm only added to their desperation. So when Ed Tate and other disaster-relief workers set up a makeshift…
Shelter worker helps reunite separated husband, wife
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ABP) — McKinnley Pittman lost all his phone numbers in the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina, and for eight days he didn't know if he also had lost his wife. Pittman took his wife, Geraldine, to a niece's…
Minister sees spiritual brokenness, humility as byproducts of Katrina
BILOXI, Miss. (ABP) — “I'd been teaching others that we need to ask God to give us a spirit of brokenness and a heart to lean on him, no matter the circumstances,” said Ashley Austin, associate pastor at First Baptist…
Regents delay vote on president for Baylor, as interim withdraws
WACO, Texas (ABP) — Contrary to expectations, Baylor University regents emerged from their Sept. 9 meeting without a new president for the 160-year-old Baptist school, and Interim President Bill Underwood announced he had removed his name as a candidate for…
Family separated by Katrina reunited at Baptist shelter
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ABP) — In 1965, when Hurricane Betsy hammered New Orleans, a pregnant Rose Green told her husband she didn't think she could survive another hurricane. Sadly, she was right. Rose survived the winds of Hurricane Katrina, but…
Churches stepping in to house, resettle hurricane evacuees
ATLANTA (ABP) — Baptist churches aren't leaving disaster relief to the professionals. Many congregations and church members are opening their homes, wallets and buildings to evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. First Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., found the Gulf Coast's diaspora…