By Bob Allen The Colorado Supreme Court struck down a school voucher program June 29, saying it violates the state constitution’s ban on using public money to fund religious schools. Overturning a lower-court decision, the Supreme Court said the Douglas…
Citing confidentiality breaches, American Baptists suspend executive search
By Bob Allen The search for the next general secretary of American Baptist Churches USA is on hold, due to “breaches of confidentiality” in the search process, the denomination’s president announced June 28 at the denomination’s biennial mission summit in…
Maintain legacy of racism busting, American Baptists told
By Bob Allen As the nation’s most racially diverse Protestant denomination, American Baptists must take the lead in eradicating racism and violence such as the June 17 hate crime that took nine lives at a historic African-American church in Charleston,…
Supreme Court legalizes gay marriage in all 50 states
By Bob Allen The U.S. Supreme Court ruled by a thin margin June 26 that the Constitution allows religious objection to same-sex marriage but does not permit the government to deny marriage benefits to gay couples that are available to…
Black, white pastors unite in ‘war’ on fear, racism
By Bob Allen A century-and-a-half after the United States fought a civil war over slavery, two black and two white Baptist pastors in Kentucky say it is time for another war against “fear and racism.” “This war will not employ…
50 years on, Baptist leaders say voting rights are jeopardized
By Robert Dilday Leaders of the Progressive National Baptist Convention Inc. gathered on Capitol Hill June 25 to advocate for stronger voting rights protection, urging legislators to adopt two bills currently winding their way through Congress. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary…
Chaplain: Military trains you to see ministry as God’s work, not yours
By Jeff Brumley Imagine spending three or four years in a place, building new ministries or reviving existing ones, only to be replaced by someone else and sent somewhere else to do it all over again. It’s a feeling that…
Jeff Haggray to lead American Baptist mission agency
By Bob Allen The former District of Columbia Baptist Convention executive minister and former pastor of Washington’s First Baptist Church has been named executive director of American Baptist Home Mission Societies. According to American Baptist News Service, Jeffrey Haggray, interim…
Rob Nash named interim dean at McAfee
By Bob Allen Mercer University’s James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology announced June 25 the appointment of an interim dean to take over when founding dean Alan Culpepper steps down July 1. Rob Nash, a professor of missions and…
Confronted with shocking violence, pastors struggle for the right words
By Robert Dilday In Baptist pulpits across the country last Sunday, pastors recast previously written sermons to grapple with the killing just days before of nine black members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., by a white…
Churches urged to consider millennials’ views on the environment
By Brian Kaylor A lot of planning, praying and, yes, worrying, goes into what millennials — those born in the 1980s and 1990s — think about church and worship. Some experts on the generation, including some of its own members, say an…
Churches urged to make July 5 ‘Freedom from Racism Sunday’
By Robert Dilday Congregations around the country are being urged to participate in “Freedom from Racism Sunday” on July 5, when many churches will mark Independence Day in worship services. The New Baptist Covenant has joined the National African American…