Students at California Baptist University gathered on campus Oct. 9 to send a counter-message to a racially charged viral video they say is giving the private Christian school controlled by the California Southern Baptist Convention a bad name.
For second time, federal judge strikes down tax break for clergy
A federal judge in Wisconsin has ruled for the second time as unconstitutional an Internal Revenue Service provision which exempts clergy from paying taxes on portions of their income designated for housing.
Bucking anti-refugee attitudes, small N.C. church opens ‘welcome house’
Refugees are increasingly unwelcome in many places around the world. But anti-refugee hostility wasn’t the challenge a North Carolina Baptist congregation faced in opening a refugee house on its Raleigh property this year.
Las Vegas shooting prompts call for gun control
A coalition of more than 50 national denominations and faith-based organizations urged Congress to reject legislation backed by the National Rifle Association they say will further endanger communities in response to the Oct. 1 mass shooting that killed 58 people…
In marathon tour, American Baptist leaders assess damage of three hurricanes
Representatives of American Baptist Home Mission Societies Communications recently logged more than 6,100 miles of travel in seven days to assess damage and organize responses to three major Atlantic hurricanes that made landfall in the United States over a period…
Transitions for the week of 10.06.17
Staff changes, congregational news and more from across the nation.
30 years later, SBC leader says Peace Committee was destined to fail
An effort in the 1980s to investigate and resolve conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention was an initial failure that in the long run helped establish the nation’s largest Protestant body as the conservative evangelical denomination it is known as…
Offer prayers for Las Vegas victims. But don’t stop there.
Predictably, the widespread offering of “thoughts and prayers” wafted through social media after a gunman massacred nearly 60 people Sunday night in Las Vegas. In fact, it’s a common refrain of politicians, including President Donald Trump. But people of faith…
How Trump, Kaepernick and NFL inspire venom — and prophetic witness
When Texas pastor Freddy Haynes joined other ministers over the summer calling for a boycott of the NFL, it was to protest the league’s treatment of embattled quarterback Colin Kaepernick. But Donald Trump has pushed the debate, and the proposed…
Former moderators sign petition urging repeal of CBF hiring ban
Twelve former moderators of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship are among more than 500 names attached to an online petition urging current leaders to drop the organization’s 17-year-old ban against hiring LGBT people. The petition — delivered this week to a…
Shots fired at Baptist school
Baptist-affiliated Gardner-Webb University went into lockdown Sept. 27 after gunshots were fired on the campus in Boiling Springs, N.C. No injuries were reported, and university officials told local media the campus returned to its normal schedule on Thursday. As of…
Baptist historian at SBC seminary says Civil War monuments should be taken down
A Southern Baptist seminary professor says it is time for Civil War monuments erected decades after Gettysburg and Appomattox for the purpose of intimidating Southern blacks to come down. “I would advocate for the vast majority of Confederate monuments to…