By Bob Allen Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf announced Nov. 13 the end of national state of emergency, citing progress in the fight against Ebola. Richard Wilson, a Mercer University professor forced to leave his temporary appointment as president of…
Choctaws in rural Mississippi find ‘open arms’ in church
By Jennifer Ferry A Cooperative Baptist church is leveraging trust and service as a way to carry the gospel message to a close-knit and highly impoverished Native American community in Mississippi. In the rural town of Decatur, located in one…
Evangelicals already working to mobilize vote in 2016
By Bob Allen Bolstered by success in the recent 2014 elections, an under-the-radar campaign to mobilize evangelical voters is asking 63,000 pastors to consider running for public office in 2016. CBN News chief political correspondent David Brody recently published an…
Vote inaugurates far-reaching governance change for BGAV
By Robert Dilday A far-reaching shift in governance of the 191-year-old Baptist General Association of Virginia went into effect Nov. 12 when messengers at the group’s annual meeting adopted a set of constitutional and bylaw changes implementing a proposal adopted…
Citing low receipts, North Carolina convention reduces budget
By Bob Allen The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina voted Nov. 11 to trim its annual budget by $1 million, citing a decline in giving of about 7 percent. “While it is true that the receipts of many churches…
Maryland school board ‘steals’ Christmas
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist leader in Maryland denounced a local school board’s decision to eliminate references to all religious holidays on its published calendar for 2015-2016. The Montgomery County Board of Education voted 7-1 to make the change…
For some Baptists, interfaith dialogue more practical than symbolic
By Jeff Brumley November means fall and fall means Thanksgiving and in many communities that means it’s time for some form of the annual interfaith gratitude service. Rabbis, imams, pastors and Hindu and Buddhist priests will process through synagogues, mosques,…
Tennessee Baptists elect first black president
By Bob Allen The Tennessee Baptist Convention elected the first African-American president in its 140-year history Nov. 11. Michael Ellis, 54, pastor of Impact Baptist Church in Memphis, was elected by unanimous vote of more than 940 messengers attending the…
Baptist leaders join plea to spare mentally ill man on death row
By Bob Allen More than 50 evangelical Christian leaders from Texas and across the country wrote an open letter Nov. 12 seeking clemency for a mentally ill inmate scheduled to die by lethal injection Dec. 3 in Texas. Faith leaders…
OK Baptists oppose homosexuality, but not gays
By Bob Allen Southern Baptists in Oklahoma passed resolutions both urging compassion for homosexuals and opposing same-sex marriage at the 2014 Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma meeting Nov. 10-11 at Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. A resolution on…
More Americans exploring, sharing faith online
By Jeff Brumley A Pew Research study released last week found that one out of every five Americans share their faith online on a weekly basis. It seems like a lot more than that to Chris Canary, a minister at…
Kentucky Baptists dismiss gay-friendly church
By Bob Allen The Kentucky Baptist Convention voted Nov. 11 to sever ties with a historic Louisville church which describes itself as welcoming and affirming of homosexuality. Messengers at the 2014 KBC annual meeting in Bowling Green voted overwhelmingly in…