By George Henson It’s not preaching or painting for Pastor Randall Worley. It’s both. And his passion for spreading the gospel through oratory and visual expression has inspired Worley to conduct weeklong art camps at Prairie Creek Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, the…
Baptist preacher wins Georgia House seat
By Bob Allen Liberal pundits said it wouldn’t be easy to find a replacement as outspoken as former Tea Party Congressman Paul Broun — who onced termed evolution a lie “straight from the pit of hell” — but voters in the 10th…
Mohler says troubling story of Abraham, Isaac reveals ‘we are saved’
By Bob Allen The story of Abraham offering to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering in Genesis 22 makes sense only if it is literally true, a Southern Baptist seminary president said at a recent preaching conference. “If this…
For youth ministers, a challenge dealing with mental illness in adolescents
By Terry Goodrich and Jeff Brumley Many mental health disorders first surface during adolescence, and college and youth pastors are in a good position to offer help or steer youths elsewhere to find it. But many of those pastors feel…
Publisher finds challenges in appealing to conservative, liberal faith traditions
By Bob Allen Six months after a controversy over its decision to publish Matthew Vines’ book God and the Gay Christian, the publisher of authors including John Piper, Bill Gothard and David Platt has announced organizational changes increasing distance between…
Ken Hall fired as Baylor’s senior vice president
By Ken Camp A former CEO of Buckner International and former president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas has involuntarily become a former senior vice president of Baylor University. Ken Hall, who has served as senior vice president for…
Church attracts Millennials, in part, by hiring them
By Jeff Brumley When the blog site MillennialEvangelical published “5 Reasons Why There Are No Millennials in Your Church,” Bob Ballance couldn’t resist sharing it with his friends on Facebook. Not because there are no Millennials in the American Baptist…
Wealth gap ‘tool of separation,’ black Baptist preacher says
By Bob Allen Economic inequality is a “tool of separation” that continues to divide races in America 150 years after slavery, an African-American Baptist leader said in a recent lecture at Campbellsville University. Stephen Thurston, former president of the National…
First Baptist, Nashville votes to sell downtown lot
By Bob Allen The congregation of First Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn., voted Oct. 26 to sell 1.26 acres of its downtown property for $18 million to a buyer planning to build a Hyatt Regency hotel. A fixture of downtown…
Baptist churches aim to plant seeds of hope in the Delta
By Bob Allen Birthplace of blues legends such as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Howlin Wolf, the Mississippi Delta is better known for hardship and despair than a message of hope, but faith and community leaders in one small…
Black Baptists in U.S. take on Ebola
By Jeff Brumley A coalition of black Baptist organizations announced today its intention to combat the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The African-American Baptist Mission Collaboration issued a statement that its constituent members — the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission…
Missouri Baptists oppose recognition of legal out-of-state same-sex marriages
By Bob Allen The Missouri Baptist Convention adopted a resolution Oct. 29 criticizing a decision by the state’s attorney general not to appeal a judge’s ruling that Missouri must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Messengers to the 2014…