A well-known African-American preacher surprised his congregation Dec. 4 by announcing he is going on sabbatical for a time of spiritual renewal and rest.
Transitions for the week of 12-20-19
Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated weekly. STAFF CHANGES Nathan Adams, now serving as minister of missions and men at Pioneer Drive Baptist Church, Abilene, Texas….
Abuse survivors cry foul over ERLC’s end-of-year fund-raising appeal
Leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests criticized a Southern Baptist Convention entity’s fund-raising appeal that touts the denomination’s response to the scourge of sexual abuse in the church as “misleading and insensitive” to victims.
Pastors feel the pain as churches hit ‘another low point’ in American culture
Research once again shows that confidence in organized religion remains at all-time lows. But what the numbers don’t reveal is the toll that the erosion of reputation and relevance has had on churches and ministers throughout the decline. It’s often described as an astonishing and disturbing experience.
Baptist professor claims he was fired for being too anti-gay
A gadfly college professor who clings to the largely discredited practice of “conversion” therapy to change sexual orientation says the Southern Baptist Convention is wavering in its condemnation of homosexuality.
Ministry jobs and more
Baptist News Global provides a free listing of ministry-related jobs for Baptist churches, theological institutions and organizations across the United States. Each free posting is for 30 days and is limited to 150 words. Postings may be extended another 30…
Former volunteer convicted of abusing preschoolers at South Carolina megachurch
A South Carolina jury has found 29-year-old Jacop Hazlett guilty of sexually abusing multiple children while volunteering to keep an eye on preschoolers while their parents worshipped at NewSpring Church, a non-denominational megachurch that originated as a church plant sponsored by the South Carolina Baptist Convention.
She walked ‘tightrope over portals of hell’ to find God’s grace
“God, you must hate me because you can do something about this and you won’t.”
Did the Pope compare Donald Trump to King Herod? Should he?
Meeting Dec. 5 with a group of 48 Jesuits from Southeast Asia during his apostolic visit to Thailand and Japan, the pontiff mentioned Herod while responding to a question about refugees in Thailand and how to live out a “ministry of hospitality.”
Ministry jobs and more
Baptist News Global provides a free listing of ministry-related jobs for Baptist churches, theological institutions and organizations across the United States. Each free posting is for 30 days and is limited to 150 words. Postings may be extended another 30…
Disaster volunteers face ‘primitive’ conditions in Dorian-ravaged Bahamas
“In addition to the tremendous loss of physical structures are the heavy tolls on family life.”
Tom Ascol, Calvinist leader and social justice critic, hospitalized after collapsing at church
Founders Ministries Executive Director Tom Ascol, who in the 1980s helped launch a movement to establish five-point Calvinism as the new orthodoxy in the Southern Baptist Convention, was hospitalized after collapsing at his church Sunday morning.