Officials of a regional association of Southern Baptists disputed the account of a former executive director who claims he was fired because of interference by the denomination’s North American Mission Board. Shannon Baker, director of communications for the Baptist Convention…
Mohler cites CBF in veto of anti-LGBT ‘religious liberty’ bill
A Southern Baptist seminary president says theology played a role in Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal’s decision to veto a measure that would have discriminated against the state’s LGBT community. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.,…
Embattled Alabama governor no longer member of Southern Baptist church
The governor of Alabama is no longer a member of First Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa after allegations he had an inappropriate relationship with a female adviser, also a member of the church. “While church discipline is a church family matter,…
New home means new life for woman rescued by Texas ministry
Plastic dishes hang neatly in the kitchen counter’s drying rack. Paw-shaped mud stains adorn the concrete driveway. The Disney Channel projects from the corner television. For many people, this is merely the humdrum of everyday life, but for Tiffany Willie these…
Denying grief over ‘sting of death’ brings its own sting, say ministers
Seasoned pastors with hundreds of funerals under their belts have seen the rites go from one extreme to another over the past three or four decades. “Growing up, almost every funeral was morbid, with open caskets and everything from the pulpit…
Baptist group protests North Carolina transgender law
Alliance of Baptists President Michael Castle said March 25 he will ask the leaders at the progressive fellowship’s upcoming annual gathering to consider moving the 2017 annual meeting away from North Carolina in light of a new state law that…
Anti-hate group scrutinizes SBC resolutions committee
The Southern Poverty Law Center questioned Southern Baptist Convention leadership for naming to a resolutions committee at the upcoming SBC annual meeting representatives of organizations the civil rights organization identifies as hate groups. The nonprofit legal advocacy organization — which began…
Georgia governor vetoes anti-LGBT ‘religious liberty’ bill
Georgia’s Baptist governor announced March 28 he would veto a controversial “religious freedom” bill that opponents said would foster LGBT discrimination. Gov. Nathan Deal, a member of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-aligned First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Ga., said he had no…
Advocates seek systemic change in prison justice issues
For the past 15 years, Alan Bean has found himself involved in some of the biggest criminal justice controversies in Texas and Louisiana. In 1999, the mild-mannered Baptist minister founded Friends of Justice and assumed the role of prophet and…
Transitions for this week
Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated weekly. STAFF CHANGES Randy Ashcraft, to the Center for Healthy Churches, as congregational consultant. Most recently he served as pastor in…
State Baptist exec blames firing on interference from SBC agency
A former Baptist state convention executive says what was reported last June as his resignation was actually a firing orchestrated by state convention leaders under pressure from the head of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention….
N.C. legislature voids Charlotte’s LGBT protections
North Carolina lawmakers convened a special session March 22 to pass a bill requiring public schools to allow access to multiple occupancy bathrooms and locker rooms based solely on the biological sex listed on a student’s birth certificate. The special…