The Lott Carey Global Christian Missional Community has agreed to collaborate with a national faith-based initiative to empower communities and families by liberating them from consumer debt. The predominantly black Baptist organization announced a new partnership with dfree — a trademarked…
Transitions for the week of 08.19.16
Staff moves, church news and more, updated weekly.
Despite size, Nagasaki Cross inspires reflection on Christian unity, breaking barriers
It is known as the Nagasaki Cross, a small — about 15 inches tall and 7 inches wide — Christian symbol forged from debris found in the wreckage of a middle school located 1,500 feet from where an American plutonium bomb detonated on Aug. 9, 1945.
Appeals court upholds award to slain pastor’s widow
A federal appeals court has upheld a $2.4 million judgment against police who seven years ago fatally shot a Southern Baptist preacher they mistook for a suspected drug dealer. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in May that…
Louisiana flood victims need help — including the spiritual kind, pastor says
Most Louisiana flooding victims are still much in the rescue phase, still in shock that their homes, businesses and communities remain underwater. But it won’t be long before they enter a stage of emotional devastation induced by seeing damaged or…
Son stabs father at church
A 21-year-old Kentucky man is in jail after stabbing his father during Sunday morning worship at a Southern Baptist church. Members and the security team at Hillvue Heights Church in Bowling Green, Ky., subdued assailant Ethan Buckley after he stabbed…
Good Samaritan act has ripple effect for CBF church
A Cooperative Baptist Fellowship church in metropolitan Atlanta gained national attention after the pastor got specific in a sermon about hospitality. “I have a proposal for you today,” Chris George said in his July 17 sermon at Smoke Rise Baptist…
Bluefield scholar seeks to take a bite out of interfaith tensions
Anti-Islamic sentiment is driving U.S. and European politics while religious hatred fuels world terrorism. Rob Merritt sees the roots of that animosity. “Most of the global conflict we see today has to do with religious controversy,” says Merritt, dean of the…
Church playground dispute erupts into battle over separation of church and state
A church playground in Missouri has become the battleground for the next big religious liberty case coming before the U.S. Supreme Court. This fall the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Trinity Lutheran of Columbia v. Pauley, a case…
Young people are tithing — but not to churches alone, researchers say
The idea of counting gifts to nonprofits other than a house of worship is a difficult concept for some church members to grasp. But congregations may have to come to grips with the concept and with the idea that younger generations tend to view tithing in broad terms.
Kentucky seminary names interim president
Academy of Preachers founder Dwight A. Moody has been named interim president at Baptist Seminary of Kentucky, one of 15 theological education partners of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Looking for the origin of decline in the U.S. church? Baptist historian thinks he may know the answer
Bill Leonard became fascinated with the topic of conversion early in his career, often teaching and preaching about the dramatic, and not-so-dramatic, ways Americans have become Christians throughout U.S. history. And by the early 1980s, Leonard said, the number of conversions,…