LOS ANGELES (ABP) — The blood of Jesus Christ. Christians sing hymns about it and debate its real or symbolic presence in the communion wine. But in Mel Gibson's controversial “The Passion of the Christ,” they will see it splattered…
SBC Executive Committee OKs plan to leave BWA, form global network
— Editor's note: This story updates one issued Feb. 17. A photo is available from Associated Baptist Press. NASHVILLE (ABP) — Southern Baptist Convention leaders intent on severing ties with the Baptist World Alliance took a major step in that…
Southern Baptists gearing up to get out the vote, promote values
NASHVILLE (ABP) — Southern Baptists should get involved in the political process, and the SBC will assist them by developing a campaign and promoting it through a new website called ivotevalues.com, Richard Land told the SBC Executive Committee Feb. 16….
New Orleans Seminary delays SBC effort to consolidate control
NASHVILLE (ABP) — New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, the lone holdout in a lengthy SBC attempt to gain stronger control over its entities, is under increasing pressure to change its charter to make the SBC the “sole member” of its…
New York Baptist leader Quinn Pugh dead at 74
STATESBORO, Ga. (ABP) — R. Quinn Pugh Sr., who served as executive director of the Baptist Convention of New York for 12 years before retiring in 1996, died Feb. 13 following heart surgery at a Savannah, Ga., hospital. He was…
Defining identity, purpose helped congregation work through conflict
COPPELL, Texas (ABP) — Valley Ranch Baptist Church seemingly had all the ingredients for expansion in a growing suburb of Dallas. Young families drove church growth. The congregation owned its land and facilities. More people were coming. Excitement and energy…
CBF diplomatic missionaries shift ministry to North Carolina
ATLANTA (ABP) — Two long-serving Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missionaries to New York's diplomatic community are moving to North Carolina, and the organization has no plans to replace them. Ana and David D'Amico have served as missionaries at the United Nations…
State newspaper editors decline BWA study offer
STOWE, Vt. (ABP) — State Baptist newspaper editors, during their annual meeting Feb. 13, declined an offer from a foundation to fund an independent inquiry into the Southern Baptist Convention's reasons for defunding the Baptist World Alliance. Meeting in the…
Frustrated Massachusetts lawmakers end historic session without gay-marriage ban
BOSTON (ABP) — The Massachusetts legislature adjourned its historic constitutional convention Feb. 12 without reversing the state supreme court's recent legalization of gay marriage. With thousands of protesters gathered outside Feb. 11, legislators began debating legal measures that would limit…