Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will speak at this week’s annual gathering of the National Baptist Convention USA. The group billing itself as the nation’s oldest and largest African-American religious organization announced Sept. 4 that the former first lady, U.S….
American Baptists urged to support Murrow Indian Children’s Home
American Baptist Home Mission Societies has established a GoFundMe campaign to show solidarity with a children’s home in Oklahoma widely criticized after declining a donation from an atheist organization in August. The Murrow Indian Children’s Home in Muskogee, Okla., returned…
BWA appoints coordinator for mission and justice
Trisha Miller Manarin, executive coordinator of the Mid-Atlantic Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, has been appointed Baptist World Alliance coordinator for the Division on Mission, Evangelism and Justice. The part-time position was created in July when the BWA General Council approved merger…
Role of deacons changing as churches embrace missional focus
Just a few years ago, Eddie Hammett says, the subject of deacons in the free church tradition started coming up in much of the congregational consulting and coaching work he was doing. Many churches — and plenty of deacons — were doubting the effectiveness…
Pastors oppose Franklin Graham crusade in Canada
Two Canadian Baptist pastors have announced publicly they won’t be taking part in a citywide crusade next March in Vancouver, British Columbia, featuring U.S. evangelist Franklin Graham. Tim Kuepfer, pastor of First Baptist Church of Vancouver, and Tim Dickau, pastor…
El Salvador appoints Baptist pastor, peacemaker, as ambassador to Canada
A Baptist peacemaker in El Salvador’s 1980-1992 civil war, who for the past 18 years has ministered to fellow expatriates in the United States, is entering a new chapter as ambassador of El Salvador in Canada. Edgar Palacios, associate pastor…
Scholars, study promote ‘pastoral imagination’ in theological education
That first year at seminary — or any year at seminary, for that matter — can be extremely stressful. Many students face financial challenges. They worry about upending their families, finding new schools for the kids. re-arranging family schedules and adjusting to…
Baptist pastor helping Trump woo Hispanics
A Texas Baptist pastor aiding the Donald Trump campaign in its outreach to Hispanic voters endorsed the Republican presidential candidate during an interview aired in three parts on The Jim Bakker Show in late July. “Let me go ahead and…
Transitions for the week of 09.02.16
Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated weekly. STAFF CHANGES Steve Ackerman, to Grace Baptist Church, Asheville, N.C., as interim pastor. Stephen Allen, to Tabernacle Baptist Church, Carrollton,…
Survey finds teens reading Bibles — but are they retaining it?
New research reporting American teens have more respect and use for the Bible than some might think comes as no real surprise to Gavin Rogers. The “2016 Teen State of the Bible” project, commissioned by the American Bible Society and…
Three-in-10 schools on ‘Shame List’ identify as Southern Baptist
Campus Pride, an advocacy organization for LGBT students at colleges and universities, identified 102 campuses said to openly discriminate in the group’s 2016 “Shame List” released Aug. 29. Last year’s inaugural Shame List identified 57 campuses that had applied for…
Christian woman ordered to remove scarf for driver’s license photo files lawsuit
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Aug. 30 on behalf of a Christian woman forced to remove her headscarf for a driver’s license photo in violation of her religious convictions. The lawsuit says Yvonne Allen of Tuskegee,…