A network of Baptist children’s homes in North Carolina is receiving credit for derailing sweeping reform of the child welfare system stripped from a larger bill that funds medical research, speeds up the approval process for drugs and devices at…
Georgia Baptists urge crackdown on illegal immigration
Southern Baptists in Georgia urged government leaders to crack down on illegal immigration in a resolution during the recent annual gathering of the Georgia Baptist Convention. Messengers to the Nov. 14-15 convention gathered in Savannah, Ga., approved a statement recommended…
Time to re-friend social media adversaries, expert says
It’s time to re-friend and unblock those people you unfriended and blocked before and after the election, Mia Moody-Ramirez says. And if you deactivated your Facebook, Twitter or other social media accounts because the anger and fear were boiling over,…
Transitions for the week of 12.2.16
A roundup of staff changes, church news and more.
Imagining Mary and Joseph as asylum seekers in the UK
Baptists in Great Britain joined three other Christian denominations in a new Nativity video imagining the welcome Mary and Joseph would receive as asylum seekers in the United Kingdom. A Very British Nativity uses child actors to portray harsh realities…
One-woman fundraising machine amazes friends and Baylor community
Nov. 29 was Giving Tuesday, when nonprofits, ministries and other groups who thrive on goodwill press the public and their benefactors for much-needed donations. Next time around they may want to consider getting Allison Dickson’s help to boost contributions. The…
U.S. embassy to remain in Tel Aviv, for now
President Barack Obama took action Dec. 1 to keep the U.S. embassy in Israel in Tel Aviv for at least another six months. The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, a pledge to relocate the embassy to Jerusalem, allows the president…
Chapel speaker terms Calvinism ‘Trojan Horse’
A Southern Baptist seminary president said Nov. 29 that Baptists who adopt Calvinistic theology and practice ought to consider joining another denomination. “I know there are a fair number of you who think you are a Calvinist, but understand there…
Trump inspiring more churches to enter sanctuary movement
In the mid-1980s, members and leaders of Old Cambridge Baptist Church risked fines and imprisonment to provide sanctuary to an El Salvadoran wanted by her government and U.S. immigration authorities. Now, Pastor Cody Sanders says, a group of church members…
Tennessee CBF responds to wildfires
A Cooperative Baptist Fellowship partner church in Sevier County, Tenn., lost a youth building and van to wildfires raging through the Great Smoky Mountains that killed at least three people, scorched hundreds of homes and businesses and sent more than…
Controversial religion clause stripped from defense policy bill
A massive defense policy bill is headed for a vote in Congress minus a controversial amendment opposed by religious and civil-liberties groups who claimed it would authorize taxpayer-funded discrimination in federal contracts. Lawmakers from the House and Senate Armed Services…
Laughter can foster forgiveness and heal relationships, minister says
A lot of ministers and congregations frown on the use of humor in the pulpit — or anywhere else in the church. Many consider it to be sacrilegious, blasphemous or, at best, disrespectful to crack a joke to open a sermon….