By Jeff Brumley A church bombing — moments before Sunday worship — would seem like a uniformly negative event in the life of a congregation and its minister. But that’s just not the case for Calvary Baptist Church and Kevin Glenn, who’s…
Paige Patterson details missiological ‘battle’ at IMB
By Bob Allen Four months before the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board announced plans to eliminate between 600 and 800 jobs, a seminary president said about 750 missionaries need to be removed because they are ineffective or doctrinally unsound….
NCC asks US to lift quota on refugees
By Bob Allen The National Council of Churches, an ecumenical gathering of 37 member communions representing 45 million Americans, joined a call Sept. 14 urging President Obama to increase Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States. The NCC endorsed a…
Using urban church planting to engage unreached groups
By Brian Kaylor When East St. Louis is mentioned on the news, the focus usually remains on the crime rate and its status as one of the deadliest cities in the nation. However, when Kempton Turner walks around the Illinois…
Global Women taps new leader
By Bob Allen Stacy K. Blackmon, a 10-year veteran communicator, strategist and ministry leader, has been selected as the third executive director of Global Women, an ecumenical women’s missions organization with moderate Baptist ties. Blackmon, who most recently worked as…
Christian Index to cease print publication
By Bob Allen A Georgia Baptist newspaper that lays claim to being the nation’s oldest continuously published religious periodical will no longer appear in print after Dec. 31. Gerald Harris, 31st editor of the 193-year-old Christian Index, announced in an editorial…
Church questioned after hiring accused predator
By Bob Allen An Alabama judge has revoked the bond of a former youth pastor awaiting trial for sex crimes after media reports he was serving at a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship church in Texas. Advocates for survivors of child sexual…
Serving the poor and homeless — and a passion for barbecue
By Jeff Brumley Texan Blake Barrow has two main callings in life. One is to serve the hungry and homeless. The other is to serve barbeque. And now the three-time Baylor University graduate has cooked up a plan to combine…
Controversial preacher returning to T4G stage
By Bob Allen A speaker sidelined two years ago by a sexual abuse scandal at his former church is back at center stage for an upcoming conference featuring prominent leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention. C.J. Mahaney, senior pastor of…
CBF releases funds for Syrian refugee relief
By Bob Allen The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has sent $15,000 to field personnel in Macedonia and Lebanon to assist with humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees, leaders of the Decatur, Ga.-based Fellowship announced Sept. 10. An estimated 4.1 million Syrians have…
New book on James reveals connection between ministry and scholarship
By Jeff Brumley What scholars do in seminaries and minsters do in the field may seem like polar opposite endeavors. Well, Jason Coker says, they aren’t. “I never separate the academics from practical ministry,” said Coker, pastor of Wilton Baptist…
SBC leader to speak at controversial family congress
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist Convention seminary president has joined the lineup of speakers for the first U.S. gathering of an international congress to affirm, celebrate and encourage the “natural family,” defined as marriage between a man and woman….