By Bob Allen While speakers at this week’s conference on “The Gospel, Homosexuality and the Future of Marriage” sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission will likely present a united “message of both truth and grace” on…
Music minister charged with child exploitation
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist music minister remains in custody after his Oct. 16 arrest by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force in LaGrange, Ky. Howard Key Chambers, 62, minister of music at DeHaven Baptist Church in La Grange,…
MAGAZINE IMMIGRANT STORY
By Jeff Brumley Before ISIS and before Ebola, there was “the surge” – the seemingly unending wave of undocumented immigrants, most of them minors, rushing the southwestern U.S. border during the spring and summer of 2014. Images of overwhelmed government…
Baptist church strives to help Afghan Muslim find welcome, work
By Jeff Brumley A Baptist congregation in Oklahoma has taken in an Muslim man who fled Afghanistan to escape Taliban retribution for interpreting for American forces. The folks at NorthHaven Church in Norman say their acceptance of the 31-year-old interpreter…
French woman represents Baptists at Catholic synod
By Bob Allen A French woman who attended the recent Synod of Bishops on the Family as a fraternal delegate for the Baptist World Alliance says she found common ground between Baptists and Catholics in issues like care for the…
Former Baptist minister indicted for murder
By Bob Allen A former children’s minister at Southern Baptist churches has been indicted for the murder of his wife 15 months ago in Homewood, Ala., local media reported Oct. 23. The reports cited court documents showing that Richard Shahan,…
Second vote on Brewton-Parker accreditation due in December
By Bob Allen An appeals committee affirmed a decision by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges in June to terminate the accreditation of Brewton-Parker College but determined new financial information supplied by the college warranted keeping the…
Seminary trustees clear president in Muslim student flap
By Bob Allen Trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary affirmed President Paige Patterson Oct. 22 after investigating concerns about his decision to allow a Muslim student to enroll in the Southern Baptist Convention entity’s Ph.D. program. A statement by the…
New Baptist Covenant gets $1 million gift
By Bob Allen A Texas foundation started by Sysco founder and Baptist layman John Baugh has pledged $1 million over four years for operating expenses of a movement spearheaded by former President Jimmy Carter to unify U.S. Baptists across racial,…
No magic bullet for church survival, Rick Warren and other Baptists say
By Jeff Brumley For years now, some agencies and experts who coach church planters and struggling congregations have tried to steer over-eager or desperate clients away from the quick fix of sizzling worship services or other gimmicks to draw big…
‘Third Way’ pastor says disunity bigger problem than homosexuality
By Bob Allen The pastor of a church recently kicked out of the Southern Baptist Convention says disunity in the church is a bigger hindrance to evangelism than tolerating differing views about homosexuality. Danny Cortez, teaching pastor at New Heart…
SNAP says SBC leader poor choice for prayer chairman
By Bob Allen A national support group for clergy sex-abuse victims called on the National Day of Prayer Task Force to reconsider its choice for 2015 honorary chairman because of unanswered questions about his handling of abuse allegations in the…