By Bob Allen The pastor of a prominent Southern Baptist church in Tennessee for three decades resigned abruptly March 6 because of a leadership dispute with the congregation’s four-member elder board. Rick White, 63, pastor of The People’s Church in…
Baptist women say faith deepened as pregnant ministers
By Jeff Brumley The first time around as a pregnant Baptist minister, Stacy Cochran Nowell harbored worries few other moms-to-be are likely to share. Chief among them was that older church members might object to the sight of an expectant…
Historically Baptist college elects gay president
By Bob Allen While one Baptist college in Tennessee defended inviting a lesbian to speak on campus, another in Indiana with little fanfare recently elected a president who is openly gay. Franklin College, a small liberal-arts college in “voluntary association”…
Baptists, Presbyterians make room for Anglicans at Calvinist confab
By Bob Allen Calvinist-inclined Baptists and Presbyterians attending this year’s upcoming national conference of the Gospel Coalition are adding a place at the table for a new constituency: conservative Anglicans who have broken with the Episcopal Church. Joining mainstays like…
Churches join schools to tackle educational challenges
Kalie Lowrie Two years ago, Principal Marta Plata of Manuel Jara Elementary School in Fort Worth, Texas, recognized her school needed help. She realized her teachers could work tirelessly every year to educate students and empower them to be their…
Faith groups celebrate 25 years of the Americans with Disabilities Act
By Bob Allen An American Baptist leader says this summer’s 25th anniversary of President George H.W. Bush signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act provides an opportunity for churches to both celebrate and explore ways to be more accessible, hospitable…
Church shares racism with police forces, says minister and former cop in book
By Jeff Brumley Baptist minister Terrell Carter felt he could identify when a police officer fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., last August. “I know what it’s like to be racially profiled,” said Carter, who is African-American. “But on…
American Baptist College defends invitation to lesbian bishop
By Bob Allen Leaders of a historically black Baptist college say they have no intention of disinviting a speaker to campus because she is a lesbian. American Baptist College President Forrest Harris defended an invitation to Bishop Yvette Flunder to…
Arkansas Baptist College dedicates community center
By Bob Allen A year after facing lawsuits from creditors and doubts by an accrediting body that it could continue to fulfill its educational mission, a historically African-American Baptist college with close ties to a state Cooperative Baptist Fellowship celebrated…
McAfee students report transformed lives — their own — in teaching prisoners
By Jeff Brumley It’s been hard for some to fathom how a condemned prisoner earned a certificate in theology while on Georgia’s death row. Even one of those who taught Kelly Gissendaner says it’s amazing that she could write papers…
American Baptist College criticized for inviting lesbian preacher
By Bob Allen More than 50 faith leaders, most of them Baptists, voiced support March 9 for a historically black Baptist college being criticized for inviting a lesbian who is legally married to a woman to speak on campus. Baptist…
Catholic school gets win in Obamacare challenge
By Bob Allen The U.S. Supreme Court revived Notre Dame University’s religious objections to required coverage of contraceptives in Obamacare March 9, vacating a lower court’s decision favoring the federal government and ordering review in light of last summer’s landmark…