By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention called on the U.S. Supreme Court to leave it up to the states to decide whether or not to permit gay marriage in a resolution adopted June 16 in Columbus, Ohio. With a…
President of Northern Seminary to resign next year
By Robert Dilday Alistair Brown announced June 15 he will resign as president of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary at the end of the next academic year. Brown, who has been president of the seminary in suburban Chicago since September 2008,…
SBC ousts another gay-friendly church
By Bob Allen For the second straight year, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has voted to oust a church over homosexuality. The Executive Committee took action June 15 against Weatherly Heights Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala., under a bylaw…
Pray for McKinney while in Dallas, ministers urge CBF Baptists
By Jeff Brumley Baptists and human rights, women in the Old Testament and the benefits of parish nursing are just a few of the topics Fellowship Baptists will be talking about at General Assembly this week. And there’s another topic…
Baptist scholar says Mormonism becoming more Christian
By Bob Allen While political alliances between Southern Baptists and Mormons on issues like same-sex marriage are nothing new, a Baptist scholar says the two camps have more in common theologically than many assume. Roger Olson, a theology professor at…
Churches unhappy with pastors should look in the mirror, consultants say
By Brian Kaylor Church health consultants share common stories about churches that have burned through several pastors in just a few years. During the consulting process, a deacon or other lay leader says something like “we just can’t find a…
Southern Baptist leader applauds crackdown on animal fighting
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention and Humane Society of the United States were among supporters of legislation cracking down on animal fighting in Tennessee signed into law June 11. Russell Moore, head of the SBC Ethics and Religious…
Baptist leader says religious lobby helped pass marriage law
By Bob Allen The Baptist leader of a North Carolina public policy advocacy group credited pressure from conservative Christians for a House vote overriding the governor’s veto of a bill allowing state court officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages…
Baptists open safe house for human trafficking victims
By Vicki Brown Savannah Oswald elbowed her way through the crowds on Black Friday 2014, searching for the cutest clothes she could find for her limited bucks. The then-high school senior cast a practiced eye over the racks and nabbed…
Church apologizes for botched discipline case
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist megachurch has made amends for disciplining a church member for leaving her husband after learning he is addicted to child pornography. In a face-to-face meeting June 3, Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church,…
Meeting in Ohio, SBC grapples with numerical decline
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention lost more than 200,000 members last year, according to statistics released just ahead of the 2015 SBC annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio. Annual statistics compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources, the convention’s publishing arm,…
Connecting faith and sports can be challenging, says seminary professor
By Jeff Brumley John White has competed against some of the world’s top athletes — and ministered to still more of them. “I raced against [future three-time Tour de France winner] Greg LeMond once and he would never know this, but…