By Bob Allen A Baptist conference center involved in a long-running legal dispute with the Missouri Baptist Convention filed papers Oct. 25 seeking $10 million in damages, claiming convention lawyers are holding up needed sewer and water improvements that would…
Chaplain joined Navy to hide from God
By Jeff Brumley The biggest challenge of being a chaplain isn’t always the long hours or never knowing what crisis is right around the corner. Jim Pope says it’s the general assumption by others that chaplaincy isn’t real ministry. Now…
Carroll Institute elects new president
By Bob Allen Gene Wilkes, a former longtime pastor hired in June as vice president for advancement at the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute, has been elected president of the graduate level “community of faith and learning” based in Arlington, Texas….
CBF begins search for missions leader
By Bob Allen A search is underway for the next Cooperative Baptist Fellowship coordinator of global missions, a key position in a period of transition for the moderate Baptist group formed out of controversy two decades ago. The Atlanta-based Fellowship…
Groups want probe of NYPD surveillance
By Bob Allen The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty joined more than 120 national, state and local organizations in an open letter Oct. 24 urging the Department of Justice to investigate post 9/11 surveillance practices in New York City…
Baptists in Uzbekistan lose camp
By Bob Allen A court in Uzbekistan has ordered confiscation of property purchased 13 years ago by Uzbekistan’s Baptist Union for use as a summer camp, according to a report by Forum 18, a global news service that monitors abuse…
Right rejects Baptist leader’s ‘pullback’ call
By Bob Allen Southern Baptists’ new leader for public policy concerns is drawing criticism from the Religious Right for public comments calling for a truce in the American culture wars. Russell Moore, the 42-year-old president of the Southern Baptist Ethics…
Activist says media helps fight abuse
By Bob Allen A lifelong Baptist who advocates on behalf of clergy sex-abuse victims says the media is doing more to promote healing and children’s safety than pastors who try to keep it out of the headlines. Amy Smith, Houston…
Harnessing youth for disaster work
By Jeff Brumley Pushed to their limits by a busy year of natural and man-made catastrophes, Texas Baptists are raising an army of youth to bolster disaster recovery campaigns across the state and region. It’s called Bounce and is billed…
Hobby Lobby appeals to Supreme Court
By Bob Allen Hobby Lobby has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the government can force it to provide health insurance for employees that covers methods of birth control that the company’s Southern Baptist owners believe can cause…
SBC leader speaks at Mormon school
By Bob Allen Mormons and Southern Baptists may not see each other in heaven, but they might in jail, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler said in an Oct. 21 lecture at Brigham Young University. “I do not believe…
‘Intentional’ Christians live among poor
By Daniel Wallace In one of northern Philadelphia’s most-dangerous neighborhoods, a 20-person Christian group thrives, embracing a lifestyle of radical community. Shane Claiborne, leader of the 10 households in the Kensington neighborhood, helped found The Simple Way in 1995 as…