By Bob Allen The newly elected leader of the Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission says couples who conceive children through in-vitro fertilization are morally responsible for extra embryos created in case the first round of treatment doesn’t…
Blog shines light on abuse in SBC
By Bob Allen A progressive blogger who monitors the Religious Right says conservative Catholic bishops and leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention both have a poor record when it comes to child sex abuse, and it should be counting against…
Cancer patients ‘Sojourn’ in Houston
By Jeff Brumley Imagine being 800 miles from home receiving radiation treatments while bouncing from hotel to hotel – or having to live out of a car or hospital lobby. Thanks to a housing ministry of Houston’s South Main Baptist…
Gaddy takes NC lawmakers to task
By Bob Allen A Baptist minister and interfaith leader took state lawmakers in North Carolina to task for demonizing one religion while trying to establish another, despite the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom for all. “It is becoming increasingly…
Broadway organist Al Travis honored
By Daniel Wallace Al Travis, director of music at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, will receive the Baptist Church Music Conference’s 2013 W. Hines Sims Award during a ceremony tonight in Georgia. The award is named for the longtime…
CBF ventures into e-learning
By Daniel Wallace The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship today will add the World Wide Web to its stable of ministries and missions with a devotional “e-course.” The digital devotional, which is being offered in partnership with The Upper Room, is titled…
Storms prompt ‘compassion adrenaline’
By Jeff Brumley It’s called “compassion adrenaline” when someone feels a nearly overwhelming urge to help others in need, and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Tommy Deal felt a wave of it coming his way Thursday night. As huge, violent storms…
Former Texas youth pastor charged
By Bob Allen A former youth minister at a Southern Baptist church in Texas is free on $100,000 bond following his arrest on charges of inappropriate contact with female victims under the age of 17. Local media report that Joshua…
Retiring SBC agency head lands in NC
By Bob Allen Richard Land, who last year announced plans to retire in October after 25 years as president of the Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, has been named president of Southern Evangelical Seminary, a non-denominational school…
Pastors get tips on burying the dead
By Ken Camp Anxiety about his or her own mortality can hinder a pastor’s ability to minister effectively when a death occurs, a former hospital chaplain said at a recent conference at Baylor University. “We are not immune to the…
Sexuality resource updated, released
By Bob Allen The Alliance of Baptists, Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, and Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America teamed up to revise and update a congregational resource on human sexuality first released in 2000. The March 2013 edition…
Alliance: Drop Cuba from terror list
By Bob Allen The Alliance of Baptists appealed April 6 to President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism in a State Department annual terror report due out April…