Members of Greenwood Forest Baptist Church in Cary, N.C., said church member Gilles Bikindou “should be released to his community of faith where he has been a law-abiding resident and productive member of society” since coming to America legally from the Republic of Congo in 2004.
Pressler abuse lawsuit turns attention to confidential settlement of earlier case in 2004
A prominent Southern Baptist layman accused of sexual abuse in a pending lawsuit has stopped making payments in an earlier lawsuit settled with the same individual, according to documents filed recently in a Texas court.
Parkland massacre takes pastor back to father’s mass shooting death
For one Baptist minister in South Florida, the response to the most recent school gun massacre is visceral. Joe LaGuardia, pastor at First Baptist Church in Vero Beach, graduated in 1996 from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where one of his best friends was fellow student Aaron Feis — the assistant football coach and security guard who died protecting students from gunfire. What’s more, his father was killed in a mass shooting in Pennsylvania in 2013.
Some ministers demand action, others reflect after Florida school shootings
Wednesday’s Florida school massacre evoked a immense, and emotional, outpouring on social media. Some posted on Ash Wednesday, others the following day. The following is a sampling of response from ministers.
Book by CBF pastor says the Bible can’t be used against same-sex relationships
There is no valid, Christian, biblical argument against same-sex relationships between consenting adults, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship pastor says in a new book.
Transitions for the week of 02.16.18
Staff changes, congregational news and more from across the nation.
Baptist editor: CBF homosexuality debate outs ‘liberal Fundamentalists’
A Baptist newspaper editorial compares critics of a new Cooperative Baptist Fellowship policy partially lifting an LGBTQ hiring ban to fundamentalists who seek to drive out Christians who disagree with their view of Scripture.
Texas Baptist convention takes note of more inclusive hiring policy by CBF
The 5,600-church Baptist General Convention of Texas apparently is paying close attention to new hiring practices at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship which would allow persons who identify as LBGTQ to be employed in some roles, though not others.
In new podcast, two Baptists explore God, sex, guilt and the ‘purity’ movement
Two self-described survivors of the True Love Waits phenomenon have produced a series of podcasts exploring faith, sex and life in the wake of the evangelical “purity” movement.
Two LGBTQ-inclusive churches reevaluating relationship with CBF following adoption of new hiring policy
Pastors of at least two Cooperative Baptist Fellowship churches say they are reconsidering affiliation with the 1,800-church network in light of a decision by CBF leaders to relax, but not totally lift, a ban on hiring LBGTQ people.
Like God, hip-hop gives voice to the oppressed, Chicago preacher says
Jonathan Brooks was introduced to faith growing up in a Missionary Baptist church on Chicago’s Southside. But he met Jesus through Christian hip hop. “For me, it’s always been the fact that [hip-hop] was a voice for the marginalized and for the oppressed,” Brooks says. And the same, he adds, is true about God.
CBF relaxes policy on hiring LGBTQ staff, but maintains some restrictions
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will continue to make sexual orientation a consideration in some, but not all, employment decisions with a new hiring policy and implementation plan adopted Feb. 9 by the CBF Governing Board.