Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated weekly. STAFF CHANGES Paul Aita, to First Baptist Church, Olympia, Wash, as pastor in the interim. Samuel Brink, to First Baptist…
Infant mortality rates higher in areas dominated by conservative Protestants, study says
Conservative Christians may not be as pro-life as they believe. Newly published research has found that American counties with higher proportions of conservative and fundamentalist Protestants experience higher rates of infant mortality. The study, “Religion and Infant Mortality in the…
Lawyer counters ‘misrepresentation and misinformation’ about seminary president’s firing
The lawyer for former Southwestern Baptist Theological President Paige Patterson says his client did not get a fair hearing before his May 30 firing by the school’s trustees. Fort Worth attorney Shelby Sharpe issued a statement June 4 addressing what…
Supreme Court hands partial win to Christian baker who refused gay wedding request
A divided U.S. Supreme Court sidestepped a decision about whether the Constitution permits bakers, florists and other business owners with religious objections to same-sex marriage to refuse commercial wedding services to gay couples in a June 4 ruling siding with…
Unconventional Silicon Valley Baptist minister explains radical faith that inspired explicit, anti-elitist tweets
Gregory Stevens isn’t your run-of-the-mill Baptist minister. “A quick note,” he said in a recent email to Baptist News Global. “I prefer to use ‘Gxd’ or ‘Gxddess’ when writing God to represent trans, feminist, queer, and gender-bending struggles.” He also…
Baptist News Global editor leaving to become Episcopal priest
Robert Dilday, editor-in-chief for Baptist News Global and a Baptist journalist for 35 years, is stepping down to become an Episcopal priest. His last official day on the job will be June 5.
Powerful spiritual force needed to counter critical national, world challenges
Research shows that a slight majority of Americans believe religion can solve most of the world’s problems. According to Gallup, 55 percent of Americans hold that view. Broken down by politics, 71 percent of Republicans and 47 percent of Democrats express that…
Paige Patterson out at Southwestern Seminary
After a week of intense criticism, leaders of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s board of trustees reversed a vote by the full board to remove Paige Patterson as president but allow him to live on campus with pay and the honorary title president emeritus. The trustee executive committee voted May 30 to remove all benefits provided earlier, including his new title, the invitation to reside as the first theologian-in-residence in a newly established Baptist Heritage Center, and “ongoing compensation.”
Transitions for the week of 06.01.18
Staff changes, congregational news and more from across the nation.
Abuse controversy prompts counseling group to move meeting from seminary campus
The Association of Biblical Counselors has moved an October conference about using the Bible to counsel abuse victims from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to another location in light of controversial statements by the seminary’s erstwhile president. Heath Lambert, outgoing executive…
Black seminarian questions evangelical identity given white Christian support for Trump
Sam Washington is a seminarian and Air Force veteran who was studying to become an evangelical pastor when Donald Trump was elected to the presidency. “I wonder if I should even go to church anymore,” Washington, who is black, wrote…
#AlMohlerToo: Did a Southern Baptist power broker just get woke?
Seminary president Albert Mohler, in a widely circulated essay, has called for independent, third-party investigations of allegations of sexual abuse in churches and Christian ministries. That position stands in stark contrast to the one he took in the recent past.