A two-year review of a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship policy banning the employment of gays is wrapping up. The CBF Governing Board plans to receive the final report of the Illumination Project at a meeting Feb. 8-9 at First Baptist Church…
Key witness in Michigan State abuse scandal alleges double standard in evangelical church
The first woman to go public with allegations of sexual abuse by Larry Nassar, the former sports medicine doctor at Michigan State University, says the laudatory public reaction to her story would have been different if it had happened at church.
Transitions for the week of 02.02.18
Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated weekly. STAFF CHANGES Ronnie Hayes, to Oak Grove Baptist Church, Boone, N.C., as pastor. Previously he was interim pastor there. Jeremy…
TV news career prepared pastor for hectic ministry life
The directors of television newscasts lead intense, even frantic professional lives. They work long, caffeinated hours weaving together the up-to-the-minute contributions of producers, photographers and anchors into — they hope — coherent broadcasts. It’s much the same as shepherding a congregation, says Erica Van Brakle, a veteran of TV news production-turned-American Baptist pastor.
Church seeks information about sexual history of teen rape victim
A Southern Baptist church sued in connection with the rape of a 13-year-old girl at a church camp in Oklahoma is asking a judge for permission to question the victim about her sexual history prior to the attack.
Franklin Graham asserts that Trump could be toppled in a coup
Evangelist Franklin Graham accused enemies of President Donald Trump of using the media to attempt to take over the country by bloodless coup in a recent radio interview.
Baptists protest deportation of church member outside ICE office where he was detained
“When ICE trapped Gilles in Charlotte, they trapped Jesus. When Gilles was throw into prison and denied his medical care, Christ himself was imprisoned and denied treatment, ” said North Carolina pastor Lauren Efird.
Lawsuit describes war on science at EPA
Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt is mounting “an attack on science” with a directive disqualifying scientists who receive federal grants for studies from serving on EPA boards, a group of scientists says in a federal lawsuit filed Jan. 23….
Trump insult making life difficult for overseas missionaries
The outrage over the comment made to senators in a meeting on immigration, and which the president eventually denied, has faded as Trump deals with newer scandals, including revelations of a tryst with a porn star. But there are those who continue to simmer about the “shithole” reference, including American Christians who have served as long- and short-term missionaries in some of the African and other nations Trump disparaged.
Transitions for the week of 01.26.18
Staff changes, congregational news and more from across the nation.
Pressler seeks gag order in lawsuit; SBC added as defendant
A prominent Southern Baptist layman is seeking a gag order in a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse, saying pretrial publicity jeopardizes his ability to receive a fair trial. Paul Pressler, architect of a strategy credited with a rightward shift in leadership…
Baptist upbringing inspires sociologist’s study of SBC controversy, American faith
Growing up as a child of a Southern Baptist minister, Nancy Ammerman developed an early interest in the role congregations play in nurturing the personal faith of individuals. Now a sociologist at Boston University, Ammerman has turned the insights she gained toward a study of American religious life, including controversies that have confronted Baptists.