By Bob Allen A watchdog group that advocates strict separation of church and state has called on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether a Missouri Baptist newspaper editor violated tax law by endorsing two candidates for political office in…
Concerns voiced about new curriculum
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist college president says new curriculum by LifeWay Christian Resources is biased toward a theological viewpoint not “representative of the vast majority of Southern Baptists.” Emir Caner, president of Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, Ga., wrote…
Churches lag in social media oversight, say experts
(ABP)—Sheryl Fancher likes to tell social media nightmare stories that make ministers cringe. Like the one about a pastor who posted derogatory remarks about church members on his Facebook page without realizing his account was set to public. Ouch. Fancher…
Church uses ‘bean poll’ to assist hunger ministries
MECHANICSVILLE, Va.—“It can be fun to do good for others,” says Jeff Scott, pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Mechanicsville, Va. That’s why the congregation is asking area voters, “Which presidential candidate is the most full of beans?” and using…
In media oversight, churches lag behind
(ABP)—Sheryl Fancher likes to tell social media nightmare stories that make ministers cringe. Like the one about a pastor who posted derogatory remarks about church members on his Facebook page without realizing his account was set to public. Ouch. Fancher…
Moderate Baptist blasts atheist billboards
By Bob Allen A moderate Baptist ethicist labeled billboards by American Atheists claiming religion has no place in presidential politics an unfair attack on people of faith. A billboard campaign timed with the national presidential nominating convention mocks the religion…
Black Baptist says racism still a problem
By Bob Allen Policy statements on racial inclusion aside, the church still has a long way to go toward eradicating racism in denominational structures, says a black Baptist leader in the United Kingdom. David Shosanya, a regional minister and director…
Calvin Miller, author, professor dies
By Bob Allen Calvin Miller, a longtime pastor, author and seminary professor, died Aug. 19, of complications from heart failure. Miller, 75, research professor of divinity and distinguished writer in residence at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala., since 2007,…
Churches lag in social media oversight
By Jeff Brumley Sheryl Fancher likes to tell social media nightmare stories that make ministers cringe. Like the one about a pastor who posted derogatory remarks about church members on his Facebook page without realizing his account was set to…
OPINION: The falconer
In his work The Second Coming, Irish poet William Butler Yeats shares the following bleak reflection: “Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.” Alex Gallimore Yeats penned…
HERITAGE: Heart music
Paul Honaker completes 38 years of music ministry at Bon Air Baptist Church in Richmond with a musical extravaganza set for 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 26. It will be a time to celebrate a career devoted to people and…
WINN RECOMMENDS
When I Was a Child, I Read Books, Marilynne Robinson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) If Marilynne Robinson writes it, then it’s worth reading. With Pulitzer-wining Gilead, I fell in love with her fiction. Since then, I’ve been moved by her…