By Kaylie Lowrie Braving hard rains, 29 cyclists joined a 500-mile bicycle ride from the Texas town of Boerne to Dallas to raise money for the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering and awareness about hunger and poverty around the state and world. The…
Sunday hunting proposal divides churches, gun lobby in North Carolina
By Bob Allen An NRA-backed bill to end North Carolina’s ban on Sunday hunting has triggered a debate between God and guns. The Christian Action League of North Carolina, a public-policy organization representing 17 conservative denominations including the Baptist State…
Bluefield College president resigns to take position at S.C. university
By Robert Dilday David Olive will resign July 31 as president of Baptist-affiliated Bluefield College in Virginia to become executive vice president of Charleston Southern University, a Baptist institution in South Carolina. Olive, who has led the college in Bluefield,…
Ohio bull-riding leads to 300 baptisms — and prompts questions about church as entertainment
By Jeff Brumley Pastor Lawrence Bishop II generated about 300 baptisms and an internet sensation last week by riding — and getting bucked off — a large bull inside his jam-packed Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio, last week. The stunt by…
Doug Dortch nominated as CBF moderator-elect
By Bob Allen Veteran pastor Doug Dortch has been selected to be in line as 26th moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Dortch, senior minister of Mountain Brook Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., will be nominated as moderator-elect of the…
Memorial Day can evoke painful memories for military chaplains, former Navy officer says
By Jeff Brumley Gerry Hutchinson attended a Memorial Day ceremony with state officials in Georgia last week, leaving him free to enjoy the holiday weekend with family. But Hutchinson, who oversees chaplains and pastoral counselors for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship,…
2 Baptist churches use shared roots to grow covenant of action in Macon, Ga.
By Jeff Brumley Two Baptist churches that began as one in pre-Civil War Georgia and eventually split — enslaved people to one congregation, slaveholders to the other — are reviving their relationship by cooperating in worship, fellowship and ministry. Channeling that unity-through-service…
Baptists in Burundi appeal for prayer as protests continue
By Robert Dilday Tensions remain high in Burundi as protesters continued to oppose President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term, and Baptists in the East African country are expressing grave concerns, according to the Baptist World Alliance. “We ask…
CBF’s Porter gives peek at new global missions process
By Jeff Brumley Steven Porter has made it clear since he was named head of global missions for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship that the organization must overhaul the structure and operation of its domestic and overseas missions efforts. Now, a…
Virginia church discovers what ‘mission’ means in its community
By Vicki Brown Powers has spent nearly 10 years “helping Christians work on listening for God’s voice” as pastor of Westhaven Baptist Church in Portsmouth, Va. Now 100 years old, Westhaven is a traditional Baptist church that had once been…
Hinson-Merton friendship continues impact on Baptist spirituality
By Carrie McGuffin and Jeff Brumley The late Catholic monk, author and interfaith pioneer Thomas Merton is far more than a distant historical figure because the body of his work can actually improve the spirituality of Baptists even today, Baptist…
‘God’s way’ of doing missions in N. Korea, Baptist minister says
By Ken Camp A Korean Texas Baptist minister returned recently from North Korea where he verified delivery of 60 tons of corn and 10 tons of wheat noodles to schools, orphanages and a hospital. He also renewed a memorandum of…