By Bob Allen One third of Protestant women who have had an abortion are Baptist, more than Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians combined, according to new statistics on abortion and church attendance collected by LifeWay Research. Those numbers are similar to…
Myers Park Baptist Church calls pastor
By Bob Allen A two-year search for a new pastor of Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., ended Nov. 22 with the unanimous election of Benjamin Boswell. Boswell, 35, is the youngest senior pastor ever to serve at the…
Online hymn collection aims to comfort those grieving after events like Paris attacks
By Jeff Brumley Those still in shock from last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris and other places should try joining others in song, Deborah Carlton Loftis says. Ditto, she adds, for those grieving the sudden death of a church member,…
SBC expert claims boy in Barbie ad bends gender
By Bob Allen Southern Baptists’ go-to authority on “gender issues” is no fan of Mattel’s new Barbie ad challenging the stereotype that boys do not play with dolls. Bob Stith, founder of Family and Gender Issues Ministries in Southlake, Texas,…
Lobbyist enlists hunters to search for missing wife
By Bob Allen A Missouri Baptist lobbyist whose wife went missing 16 months ago is turning to deer hunters for help. “The half-million hunters that go out in the woods during this deer season, if they would all hear the…
Fighting poverty about more than serving meals, advocates say
Lauren Sturdy and Jeff Brumley Imagine standing on a riverbank looking up at a roaring waterfall, watching as person after person washes over the edge, plunges into the water and drowns. A caring person has two options — pull them…
Protestors to SBC: ‘All souls matter’ in campus ministry
By Bob Allen African-American demonstrators gathered Nov. 18 near James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., to protest what they claim is racial bias in the Southern Baptist Convention’s efforts to evangelize students at American colleges and universities. About two dozen…
Alabama Baptists support abortion limits
By Bob Allen Southern Baptists in Alabama urged lawmakers to pass legislation banning a technique used in second-trimester abortions in a resolution adopted by messengers to the group’s annual meeting Nov. 17-18 in Daphne, Ala. The Alabama Baptist State Convention…
Prayer and action best in wake of terror attacks, ministers say
By Jeff Brumley Paris is attacked and about all most Americans can do is change their Facebook and Twitter profile pictures to French flags. Take that, ISIS. But for many there is a lot of frustration that goes along with…
Pastor charged with trafficking in police sting operation
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist pastor in South Dakota is being held by federal marshals in a county jail after he allegedly fell for a police sting operation by negotiating a deal with an undercover officer posing as a…
Ben Carson taps Baptist as Mississippi chair
Charles Pickering, a retired judge and Baptist layman, says the GOP frontrunner “has the integrity and moral authority to lead and bring America together.” A past president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention and member of a committee that attempted to…