By Bob Allen After four years as executive director of Soulforce, a national nonprofit protest group opposed to discrimination against gays in religious groups, Cindi Love is stepping down. Love, former national leader of the of Metropolitan Community Church, will…
Richard Shahan seeks $30,000 bond
By Bob Allen Lawyers for an Alabama Baptist minister arrested while trying to board a flight for Germany on a charge of murdering his wife are asking a judge to set a “reasonable” bond not to exceed $30,000 allowing his…
Churches, CBF respond to NC collegiate ministry shifts
By Jeff Brumley Cooperative Baptist congregations in Western North Carolina and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina are expanding their influence on college campuses just as huge financial and cultural shifts make campus ministries one of the riskiest and…
Gus Reyes to direct Texas Baptist CLC
By Bob Allen Gus Reyes, director of affinity ministries and Hispanic Education Initiative for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, has been named director of the state convention’s Christian Life Commission. Reyes, who has a Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological…
Florida newspaper names editor
Editor’s note: This story was edited after publishing to correct an error in the last paragraph. By Bob Allen Kevin Bumgarner, editor-in-chief of the Pacific Business News in Honolulu, Hawaii, since 2010, has been named executive editor of the Florida…
Baptists arrested at worship in Belarus
By Bob Allen Authorities in Belarus raided a Baptist church service Dec. 22 and charged three leaders with holding an unauthorized mass public event, according to an international news service that specializes in religious liberty violations around the world. Forum…
Pastor: Church heartbroken by murder, arrest
By Bob Allen The interim pastor of an Alabama church, whose former children’s minister is in jail on charges of murdering his wife, told church members Jan. 12 to rely on their faith amid struggles. “Not a one of us…
Baptists eye catechism (again) to instruct the faithful
By Jeff Brumley There may just be an ancient solution to the modern church’s problems of decreasing attendance and rising religious illiteracy in a post-modern culture turned off by denominational brand names, some leading Baptist scholars and educators say. The…
Baptists, culture agree about smoking: Stop it
By Bob Allen Under a prevailing Premillennialist theology that holds things on Earth will keep getting worse and worse for believers until Christ returns, coupled with a Calvinism that teaches mankind is totally depraved, it is not unusual to hear…
SNAP urges Baptists to speak out on abuse
By Bob Allen A victim support group held signs outside a Houston megachurch Jan. 9 calling for greater transparency about the reporting of child sex abuse in Southern Baptist churches. Representatives of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests…
Arrest affidavit says minister cut, stabbed his wife
By Bob Allen An arrest affidavit released to the public Jan. 10 accuses former First Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., associate pastor Richard Shahan of cutting and stabbing his wife found murdered in the couple’s home July 23. Shahan, 53,…
Texas minister helps bring abuser in Kenya to justice
By Ken Camp When Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, commissioned Chris Pillsbury to serve in Kenya a year and a half ago, he expected to help women market fair-trade handcrafts, work with a humanitarian medical program and maybe start a…