By Bob Allen An association of Southern Baptist churches’ decision to kick out its only predominantly black congregation had nothing to do with race, the association’s director of missions insisted Oct. 20. “The issue is not about race,” DOM Mike…
Pastor Nancy Stanton McDaniel to be nominated as BGAV president
By Robert Dilday Central Virginia pastor Nancy Stanton McDaniel, who currently serves as the Baptist General Association of Virginia’s first vice president, will be nominated in November as BGAV president, it was confirmed Oct. 20. If elected, McDaniel, pastor of…
Baptists aid effort to rescue abandoned babies in South Africa
By Aaron Weaver In the sixteenth chapter of Genesis, God promises the weary and desperate Hagar a future for her unborn son, Ishmael, offering the Egyptian maidservant hope and strength as she wanders through the burning Judean desert. Stopped at…
Church booted for calling female pastor
By Bob Allen The only predominantly African-American Southern Baptist church in a rural county in Tennessee risks losing its house of worship for calling a woman as pastor. News Channel 5 in Nashville reported Oct. 15 that Greater Tabernacle Baptist…
Daniel Aleshire: An exceptional life characterized Diana Garland
By Daniel Aleshire 1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 3 You…
Fallen BJC board member to be laid to rest
By Bob Allen A memorial service is scheduled Nov. 16 in Pennsylvania for a member of the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty who died from injuries he suffered in a fall while leaving his hotel for the BJC’s recent…
Pastor trades unconventional pulpit for traditional church — and a challenge
By Jeff Brumley Bob Ballance said he’s expecting the question from all quarters: why is he leaving his Colorado church popular with Millennials for one that’s more traditional in a small Virginia town? And he admits there will be some…
‘Peeping preacher’ case comes to TV
By Bob Allen Incriminating video that three years ago helped land a former Southern Baptist evangelist in prison for video voyeurism aired on national television Oct. 15. Thursday’s installment of Crime Watch Daily, a syndicated investigative news magazine series that…
Faith propels graduate beyond grief into service — and running
By Jeff Brumley Waco, Texas, resident Emily Guberman is a new Baylor University graduate, a recently minted Baptist and an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer. She’s also running 1,000 miles over a year for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. But the path that…
Russell Moore equates silence on abortion with past silence on slavery, lynching
By Bob Allen Pastors today who refuse to speak on behalf of the unborn are no better than 19th-century congregations that stayed silent on slavery, the Southern Baptist Convention’s top spokesman on public policy and religious liberty concerns said in…
American Baptists in Nebraska launch microloan ministry to address justice, poverty
By Vicki Brown Tom struggled to make ends meet, even though he had a full-time job. Willing to work more, he wanted to start a small landscaping business that would provide needed income and flexibility. Then Tom’s pastor told him…
Former SBC president opposes Houston equal rights ordinance
By Bob Allen A past president of the Southern Baptist Convention is front and center of a campaign by Houston pastors to convince voters to say no to a controversial equal-rights ordinance scheduled to be on the ballot Nov. 3….