Burmese refugee youth resettled in Texas exhibit amazing courage and resilience in negotiating American life and helping older relatives and community members overcome language and cultural barriers in the U.S., ethnographic researcher Diane Mitschke said during an April 28 lecture…
A storm is brewing ahead of the purported nomination of an SBC Executive Committee president on Monday
This story was updated Sunday afternoon, April 30, to include information published by Baptist Press. The nominee to become president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has drawn public opposition over the weekend even before his nomination was publicly…
Despite extensive tornado damage on campus, OBU students will return to in-person classes Monday
Students at Oklahoma Baptist University will return to most campus buildings for two final weeks of in-person classes this semester, President Heath Thomas reported April 26. Every building on the Shawnee, Okla., campus was damaged by tornadoes and high winds…
High recidivism rates keep the Prison Industrial Complex humming, authors contend
The U.S. prison system intentionally promotes recidivism rates high enough to guarantee the continued existence and growth of a thriving, profit-driven incarceration system, according to Fox Richardson, the subject of an Academy Award-nominated documentary about the power of faith over…
Point Loma University enters the collegiate battle over LGBTQ affirmation
Another religious institution is ripping itself apart in a conflict about whether to affirm LGBTQ Christians as full participants, and this time, it’s a conservative evangelical college. Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego fired its dean of theology, according…
Immigration advocates sound alarm on proposed state and federal immigration bills
Immigration advocates have been especially busy this month actively opposing anti-immigrant legislation proposed on state and federal levels. That’s because Republican lawmakers from Washington, D.C., to Tallahassee, Fla., have ramped up efforts to energize their base with bills critics have…
Fraud case against Kanakuk may proceed
A fraud lawsuit against Kanakuk Kamps may proceed, despite the objections of the Missouri camp and its leader, a county court ruled April 25. Kanakuk Heritage Inc., Kanakuk Ministries, and Kanakuk CEO Joe White had asked the Taney County Circuit…
Historians Bond and Brekus to headline upcoming BJC events
Two historians will headline upcoming events sponsored by Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Catherine Brekus, the Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America at Harvard Divinity School, will give BJC’s annual Walter B. and Kay W….
Transitions for the week of 4-28-23
Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Charlie Barganier, to Trinity Baptist Church, Kerrville, Texas, as minister of worship. He comes from First Baptist Church,…
Mike Stone will make repeat run at SBC presidency
A Georgia pastor who has been a standard bearer for the most conservative wing of the Southern Baptist Convention will make a second run to become SBC president at this June’s annual meeting in New Orleans. Mike Stone, pastor of…
Five ‘Christian influencers’ still face defamation case by former Dominion executive
Despite the much-publicized settlement between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems, five “Christian influencers” still face defamation lawsuits brought against them by Eric Coomer, former director of product strategy and security for Dominion. A recent article by Steve Rabey for…
Pew study finds major shifts in U.S. Latino religious identity
Catholicism has taken the biggest hit from U.S. Latinos switching religious affiliations over the past decade or more, while the religiously unaffiliated have seen the most growth in that time frame, new research shows. The Pew Research Center study also…