By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist pastor in Florida responded to Friday’s shooting rampage at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado by claiming Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards hates God and loves death. In video of his…
Homeless items stolen from church
By Bob Allen A trailer full of clothes and blankets for the homeless has been stolen from a Southern Baptist church in Louisville, Ky. The trailer, used for the Helping Hands Ministry of Valley View Church in southern Jefferson County,…
Transforming systems, shaping policies
By Ken Camp As a child, the daydreams of Kathryn Freeman, future attorney and public policy director for Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission, never centered on courtroom drama or legislative power plays. “I wanted to be like Oprah,” Freeman acknowledges….
Sale of LifeWay property finalized
By Bob Allen LifeWay Christian Resources has sold its headquarters in downtown Nashville, Tenn., for a reported $125 million cash, the second largest amount of money ever spent in the city for a building or property, to a San Diego-based…
Tennessee’s lone Arabic Baptist pastor dies
By Bob Allen A retired Southern Baptist missionary, whose attempts to evangelize Muslims in Middle Tennessee recently attracted attention in national media, died unexpectedly the day before Thanksgiving. Raouf Ghattas, 69, pastor of the Arabic Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tenn.,…
A Philadelphia story, with a bright future
The offer seemed at first like manna from heaven. A developer walked into First Baptist Church of Philadelphia and offered $2 million to buy the historic 68,000 square foot building that was suffocating the tiny congregation with constant maintenance. He…
Partnership saves historic Baptist church
By Bob Allen A unique partnership involving government, preservationists and a community theater group has helped rescue a historically significant but endangered Baptist church building in Massachusetts. The stately First Baptist Church, a fixture in downtown New Bedford, Mass., since…
Online Advent devotionals start Friday
By Bob Allen “Following the Star,” a series for Advent and Christmas, returns to Passport, Inc.’s devotional website d365.org Nov. 27. Daily entries will feature Scripture, prayer and meditative thoughts accompanied by gentle music. This year’s writers include Mihee Kim-Kort,…
For surrogate mother, it’s all about making dreams reality
By Laurie Lattimore-Volkmann Though nothing we do compares to the love God showed by giving the world Jesus, opportunities abound to let Christian faith shine through the love shown to others, and when they arise, God asks us to take…
Booted pastor defends ‘nuanced’ view of LGBT inclusion
By Bob Allen A South Carolina Baptist pastor whose decision to officiate a same-sex wedding got his church kicked out of its local association and state convention says he is concerned about a culture within the Baptist faith that is…
Church building on site of SBC’s birth declared unsafe
By Bob Allen The birthplace of the Southern Baptist Convention in downtown Augusta, Ga., has been condemned for occupancy after a routine inspection, the Augusta Chronicle reported Nov. 23. The city inspection came amid reports that homeless people were sleeping…
Divinity school deans: Changing theological education easier said than done
By Ken Camp and Jeff Brumley Theological education should help “the whole people of God” move toward maturity as the body of Christ — and that means moving beyond traditional ways of providing that learning, Linda Cannell said during B.H. Carroll…