By Robert Dilday Washington pastor Amy Butler is a search committee’s candidate to be the next senior minister at Riverside Church in New York City, one of the most prominent congregations in mainline Protestantism. The search committee’s selection of Butler,…
Pastor retires to be minister’s husband
By Bob Allen An Alabama pastor who chaired a blue-ribbon task force charged with retooling the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship for the 21st century is retiring from the pulpit to become a minister’s spouse. David Hull announced in an email April 27…
Baptist groups await OK to help Ark. twister victims
By Jeff Brumley Death tolls and destruction aren’t the only difficult things to deal with for Baptist disaster-relief officials. Having to tell eager volunteers, at least initially, to stay home can be just as tough. “The toughest part of my…
Glen Stassen, leading Baptist voice in peacemaking, dies at 78
By Robert Dilday Glen Stassen, a Baptist theologian widely known for his work on the ethics of war and peace, a topic he explored with seminary students for 30 years, died April 26 in Pasadena, Calif., following a battle with…
Diverse faith coalition — including Baptists — advocates immigration reform
By Jeff Brumley Advocates of the rapidly growing immigration reform movement say they’re heartened by the expanding involvement of religious groups, which they say is key if Congress is to ever act decisively on the issue. “The coalition is getting…
Richmond Baptists restructure to strengthen ministry in wake of homosexuality dispute
By Robert Dilday The Richmond Baptist Association has approved a significant restructuring aimed at strengthening its ministries in the wake of a dispute over homosexuality which prompted some of its member congregations to withdraw or reduce financial support. Though final…
SBC leaders warn book by gay Christian ‘not faithful to Scripture’
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist Convention seminary cranked out a 90-page rebuttal to a recently released book making waves in evangelical circles with claims that the Bible is not anti-gay. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, described…
Probation terms altered to permit sex offender pastor to minister to children
By Bob Allen A judge in Florida has changed probation terms for a preacher who is a registered sex offender to allow the former Southern Baptist pastor to minister to children in his church. Darrell Gilyard, 52, began preaching at…
SBC leader says cake-decorating mom helped shape his religious liberty views
By Bob Allen Southern Baptists’ top spokesman for public policy says he knows from personal experience that religious-liberty concerns such as whether a cake decorator can refuse service for a same-sex wedding are anything but trite. Russell Moore, head of…
Former Wayland CFO pleads guilty to theft
By Bob Allen The former chief financial officer at Wayland Baptist University received five years in prison after pleading guilty to using university funds for personal expenses. The Amarillo Globe-News reported April 22 that James E. Smith, fired last year…
Baptists pushing hospitality beyond comfort zones — and discovering deeper spirituality
By Jeff Brumley Hospitality to a lot of Christians means taking a meal to a sick church friend or inviting neighbors over for a barbecue on Memorial Day. But neither of those meanings come even close to the spiritual practice…
CBF to announce new global missions coordinator April 30
By ABPnews/Herald staff The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will announce its new coordinator for global missions next week, filling a position vacant since June 2012, when Rob Nash became a mission professor at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology. Since then,…