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…
Usually traditional, NYC church takes different approach on Good Friday
Good Friday services at Madison Avenue Baptist Church are traditional in many ways. Participants are reminded, through music, prayer and scripture readings, of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. Themes of sorrow and grief are experienced in an ornate…
Little Sisters get day in court
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments March 23 in combined cases to decide whether mandatory coverage of contraceptives under Obamacare violates the religious liberty of faith-based organizations that serve the public and hire non-adherents as employees. Charities including several…
Christians, Muslims fear backlash from Brussels attacks
The deadly explosions in Brussels Tuesday morning had some American Muslims and Christians awaking with dismay. “I’d like to say I was surprised, but I wasn’t,” said Joe Bradford, founder of the Houston-based nonprofit American Muslims Care. The previous arrests…
Lawsuit names Baptist church in 30-year-old abuse case
A Cooperative Baptist Fellowship pastor in Georgia has voiced regret and sadness about his church’s handling decades ago of allegations of sexual abuse within a Boy Scout troop it sponsored. A lawsuit filed March 17 in Fulton County State Court…
Wife of BTSR president unexpectedly dies
Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond is reporting the unexpected death of Cyndi Crawford, wife of seminary president Ron Crawford. According to a press release from BTSR, she was discovered at the family home in Hanover County, Va., yesterday evening. The…
People-pleasing pastors risk health, families and callings
Besides preaching and visiting the sick, too many ministers also are skilled at denying themselves vacation days, putting in extreme time at the office and scaling back on family time. “We are well known for overworking,” said Merianna Neely Harrelson,…
British Baptists wrestle with same-sex marriage
Hoping to avoid division over an issue that is dividing religious bodies across the globe, British Baptist leaders are asking churches not to allow their buildings to be used for same-sex weddings. The leadership council of the Baptist Union of…
Former president, now professor, reportedly on way out at Louisiana College
A Baptist college in Louisiana is seeking to remove its controversial former president from a teaching position on the faculty, according to a local media report. The Town Talk in Alexandria, La., quoted unnamed sources March 16 saying that Louisiana…