By Ken Camp About one-third of the Baylor Alumni Association board of directors — including four officers — have resigned in the wake of a failed attempt to approve a transition agreement with the historically Baptist university in Waco, Texas….
SBC leader defends ‘sectarian’ prayer
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention’s top expert on religious-liberty concerns says the U.S. Supreme Court should uphold a New York town’s practice of opening its city council meetings with sectarian prayer. “A prayer, by definition, isn’t a speech…
Mohler reflects on 20 years at Southern
By Bob Allen With two decades under his belt as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s flagship seminary, Albert Mohler’s 10-year plan includes writing a systematic theology, according to a 2,800-word story published Oct. 15 in the campus newspaper The…
Arrest made in Charlotte church arson
By Bob Allen Police in Charlotte, N.C., have arrested an 18-year-old in connection with an arson-related fire this summer at the city’s Providence Baptist Church. Local media reported the arrest of Jonathan Paul Dover on charges of setting fire to…
Baptist leader blasts ‘civil religion’
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention’s chief spokesman on public policy said Oct. 10 that issues facing military chaplains are part of a larger trend in society to endorse “a bland, generic, nothing blob of civil religion over genuine…
VITAL SIGNS: The high cost of self-preservation
A young pastor was recently recounting the events that led to his dismissal. Throughout the painful ordeal, he had relied upon a small group of spiritually-mature trusted advisors to help him navigate the uncertainties he faced. As events unfolded, he…
TRENDING: What our words tell us, part 2: Demoralization
David Brooks’s recent New York Times op-ed column on Google’s “ngram” analysis revealed a stunning surge of individualism reflected in our language and literature in recent years. Another element revealed by analysis of words trending upward is what Brooks calls…
WINN RECOMMENDS: Books that matter
Some of the very best stories are the true ones. Here are two memoirs and one collection of heroic figures that would be worthy of your time. Booked, by Karen Swallow Prior (T.S. Poetry Press) Prior is an English…
HERITAGE: ‘The Column’ at 30
Thirty years ago this fall the editor and associate editor of the Religious Herald, Julian H. Pentecost and Tom Miller, respectively, invited this soon-to-be-columnist to lunch. They presented a proposition that their lunch guest begin to write a Baptist history…
Baylor student gives life to stranger
By Jeff Brumley Retired maintenance worker Bill Allison of Puxico, Mo., was diagnosed with stage-four leukemia just over two years ago and, being in his 60s, was told his chances of finding a bone marrow donor were slim at best….
Longtime CBF worker Latha Bandela dies
By Jeff Huett Latha Bandela, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field worker for more than 17 years until 2011, has died at the age of 66. She suffered a brain aneurysm and passed away Friday at an Atlanta-area hospital. In 1994,…
SBC agency sues against Obamacare
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention agency that provides insurance for denominational employees filed a lawsuit Oct. 11 claiming the Affordable Care Act violates the religious liberty of faith-based organizations that do not meet the government’s narrow definition of…