ATLANTA (ABP) – The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will award 45 sabbatical grants for pastors in 2006. Made possible by a $1.9 million Lilly Endowment grant, the Initiative for Ministerial Excellence program awarded 20 grants in 2004 and an additional 35…
Congress intervenes in dispute
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Congress has now intervened in the emotional dispute over a brain-damaged Florida woman's fate. Doctors were scheduled to remove the feeding tube keeping Terri Schiavo alive March 18, unless Florida legislators pass their own bill aimed at…
Kerry, Santorum say they will reintroduce Workplace Religious Freedom Act
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Congressional supporters of religious freedom will try once again with an employees' religious rights bill they've been trying to get passed for more than eight years. At a Capitol press conference March 17, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.)…
Faith and Politics conference postponed due to Parham prolonged illness
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Due to the prolonged illness of Baptist Center for Ethics Executive Director Robert Parham, a scheduled conference on faith and politics has been postponed indefinitely. Parham was diagnosed late last week with acute leukemia. He is…
Peace activist, pastor Carman Sharp dies at 87
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) – Carman Sharp, longtime peace activist and Kentucky Baptist pastor, died March 14. He was 87. Sharp, who retired in 1984 after 23 years as pastor of Deer Park Baptist Church in Louisville, was founder of the…
Longtime Kentucky music leader dies one week after accident
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) – Eugene Quinn, retired director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention church music department, died March 9 as a result of injuries sustained in a fall at the KBC Evangelism Conference March 1. He was 84. Quinn suffered…
American Baptist missionaries will not be recalled, thanks to giving boost
VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) — American Baptists will not be forced to recall large numbers of foreign missionaries from their places of service, thanks to an increase in giving to an annual missions offering. “A dramatic increase in giving, combined…
Templeton prize goes to bridge builder
Charles Townes, a Nobel laureate who helped invent the laser and was an early pioneer in merging science and religion, has won the 2005 Templeton Prize and the more than $1.5 million that comes with it. “Charles Townes helped to…
Texas Baptists to produce BWA Bible studies
BaptistWay Press, the publishing arm of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, will produce the Bible study materials for this summer's Baptist World Alliance Centenary Congress in Birmingham, England. The Texas publisher replaces LifeWay Christian Resources, the publishing arm of…