By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board will offer voluntary incentive for early retirement in an attempt to cut between 600 and 800 jobs from the agency’s missionary force and staff. Leaders of the Richmond, Va.,-based IMB…
Jimmy Carter’s church to limit Sunday crowds
By Bob Allen Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., announced Aug. 27 it would begin limiting the size of crowds attending a Sunday school class taught by former President Jimmy Carter. Last Sunday Carter, 90, for the first time pulled…
Burma conversion bill raises religious freedom concern
By Bob Allen Advocates for religious liberty view with alarm a new law recently passed by the parliament in Myanmar making it harder for a person to switch religions. Human Rights Watch, an international non-governmental organization that monitors human rights,…
10 years later, one Baptist group reflects on Katrina and its aftermath
By Aaron Weaver Aug. 28, 2005, should have been a music-filled Sunday morning at St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. The congregation was scheduled to sing its top 10 favorite hymns. Instead, that Sunday turned out to be…
SBC president talks about sex the Sunday after Ashley Madison scandal
By Bob Allen Men and women in sexless marriages are asking for trouble, the president of the nation’s second-largest faith group behind Roman Catholics said in a sermon the week after the hacking of an online dating service exposed the…
Couple accused of stealing from church they helped plant
By Bob Allen A North Carolina pastor and his wife have been arrested for allegedly stealing more than $40,000 from the church they helped plant in 2006. George Keith Hall, 51, and Leslie Hill Hall, 52, turned themselves into police in…
Opening doors — front and back — to minister
By Blake Tommey At the Center for Faith and Leadership in Fredericksburg, Va., directors Carey and Gannon Sims have a familiar saying: “Our front door is open to the campus and our back door opens to the community.” And while…
American Baptists join Baptist family in prayer for Jimmy Carter
By Bob Allen Leaders of American Baptist Churches USA joined the larger Baptist family Aug. 25 in the United States and globally in prayer for former President Jimmy Carter and his family after the lifelong Baptist’s recent diagnosis with cancer….
51 Christian leaders support Iran nuclear deal
By Bob Allen Paula Clayton Dempsey of the Alliance of Baptists and American Baptist Churches USA head Roy Medley were among 51 U.S. Christian leaders asking members of Congress to support the negotiated nuclear deal with Iran. The group — which also…
Briefs ask Supreme Court to take Obamacare case
By Bob Allen Scripture and Southern Baptist doctrine teach that life begins at conception, and ending that life through emergency contraception or intrauterine devices is a “grave moral wrong,” according to a U.S. Supreme Court brief filed by Southern Baptist…
Study: church diversity does not guarantee diverse thinking, beliefs
By Jeff Brumley Many think of multiracial congregations as places where understanding grows between blacks, Hispanics and whites on social and justice issues. But a newly published study suggests that the opposite is true in many such congregations. Instead, it…
Ted Cruz recruiting pastors in push to defund Planned Parenthood
By Bob Allen Sen. Ted Cruz will hold a nationwide conference call for pastors Aug. 25, seeking evangelical support for his presidential campaign by going after Planned Parenthood. Cruz (R-Texas), a Southern Baptist and pastor’s son, invited pastors to join…