By Robert Dilday Launching a new partnership with a Washington-area seminary topped the agenda of the Mid-Atlantic Cooperative Baptist Fellowship March 23 as it gathered for its annual meeting in suburban Maryland. The 50-church regional affiliate of the national CBF…
Petition asks gender-role group to repent
By Bob Allen An online petition posted recently at Change.org challenges the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood to apologize for what the sponsors say is the misuse of Scripture to keep women in their place. “At a time in…
Former WMU leader Willene Pierce dies
By Bob Allen Willene Pierce, a former leader in Woman’s Missionary Union and the Baptist World Alliance, who in 1997 launched a full-time ministry with Native American women, died March 18. Pierce, 71, accepted Christ in 1952 during a revival…
Contemplative practices gaining with youth, young adults
By Jeff Brumley Some contemplative spiritual practices may be as old as Christianity itself, but they are increasingly attracting younger generations hungry for alternatives to contemporary, flashy worship. Case in point: portions of an international Taizé pilgrimage hosted by First…
Director of gender-roles council denies scrubbing article
By Bob Allen The head of an organization that advocates wifely submission in the church and home denies removing a web page containing an article being compared to Mormonism. Julie Ann Smith, who writes for a blog on spiritual abuse…
Glorieta case remains in federal court despite challenge
By Bob Allen A judge in New Mexico ruled March 20 that a federal court has jurisdiction over a lawsuit challenging last year’s sale of Glorieta Conference Center and lifted a stay so that the case can proceed. U.S. Magistrate…
Alban Institute, consultant for mainline congregations, shuttering after 40 years
By Bob Allen The Alban Institute is closing shop after 40 years as an independent consulting, educational and publishing firm catering to mainline Protestants, directors of the Herndon, Va.,-based nonprofit announced March 19. As of March 31, Alban Institute consultants…
Fred Phelps, dead at 84, leaves behind legacy of hate
By Bob Allen Fred Phelps, founding pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., is dead at age 84, family members confirmed to local media. Phelps’ son, Timothy, told Topeka television station WIBW that his father died late Wednesday night….
Lay claim to ‘audacious freedom,’ divinity school students urged
By Ken Camp Baptist church historian Bill Leonard challenged students at Texas Christian University’s Brite Divinity School to carry out their calling by claiming, reclaiming, discovering or recovering “the audacious freedom we call gospel.” Jesus announced the coming of God’s…
CBF leaders remember Tom Cleary
By Bob Allen Cooperative Baptist Fellowship leaders shared fond memories of Tom Cleary, one of the first field personnel appointed by the Decatur, Ga.-based CBF, who died March 19 in Tampa, Fla., after emergency surgery for a ruptured aneurysm the…
Mission trip reflects growing shift as participants experience ‘transformation’
By Jeff Brumley It’s usually called a mission trip when a group of college students and their campus minister visit a ministry located in a struggling out-of-state neighborhood. But that’s not what a group of Clemson University undergrads and their…
Osteen illustrates nondenominationalizing of U.S. religion, says church historian
By Ken Camp Megachurch Pastor Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church in Houston offer a high-profile case study in the “nondenominationalizing” of 21st century evangelical American religion, says church historian Bill Leonard. Osteen manages to be “modern and postmodern, traditional and…