By Lance Wallace A 10-member committee seeking a successor to Daniel Vestal as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship executive coordinator met for the first time in Dallas in early January. The initial meeting focused on members of the group getting acquainted,…
Civil War changed Southern Baptists, historian says
By Bob Allen The American Civil War affected Baptists in the South in profound ways that still reverberate more than 150 years after the first shots were fired on Fort Sumter, says a new book by a Baptist historian. Bruce…
WMU leads in advocating for children victimized by trafficking
By Vicki Brown The sticker in the hotel window reassured the visitor — this business would help protect children from predators while they and their parents are guests. “The Child Safe Zone,” a project of Georgia Woman’s Missionary Union and…
Analysis: Churches, ministries provide refuge to victims of human trafficking
Many Christians see the eradication of human trafficking in the United States as a complex and daunting problem. But that doesn’t mean they are letting the enormity of the challenge scare them away. During the last session of the Texas…
Human trafficking: 21st century slavery
By John Hall Small details in the lives of the troubled students Tyler Shoesmith works with tell more than they would like him to know. It’s the words they use, the clothes they wear — even the age of…
EDITORIAL: Principles are sometimes hard to hold
For Baptists of old, freedom of religious thought and practice was more than an academic hold-over from previous generations. Being sent to jail for proclaiming your beliefs tends to make it personal. To them it was a right granted by…
Children’s project empowers women around the world
CAPE CHARLES, Va. — A hunger relief project initiated in 2009 by three children and their teacher in a mission education class at a small church on Virginia’s Eastern Shore has mushroomed into a multi-church endeavor which will provide thousands…
OUT LOUD
“We’re bringing the bed back in church.” Ed Young Jr. The Dallas-area Baptist pastor and his wife recently spent 24 hours in a bed on the roof of their church to send a message about the role of sex in…
Pope gives final approval to controversial lay group
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — After a 15-year process, the Holy See on Jan. 20 gave its final approval to the Neocatechumenal Way, a lay movement that has been criticized for its unorthodox liturgical practices but that has been successful in…
VIRGINIA BRIEFS
2012 Heritage Fellows applications open. Applications are now available for the 2012 Heritage Fellows program, sponsored by the Center for Baptist Heritage & Studies. Each year the Center appoints a few outstanding Virginia Baptist college students as Heritage Fellows. They…
Big-city mayors come out for same-sex marriage
NEW YORK (RNS) — A bipartisan coalition of 80 U.S. mayors on Jan. 20 launched a “Freedom to Marry” campaign to build public support for giving same-sex couples the right to marry under U.S. and state laws. “It is not…
VITAL SIGNS: The unbalanced church
When a congregation wants to get, stay or remain healthy, one of the key questions it asks has to do with the balance between its internal and an external focus. One excellent congregational exercise to help with this question is…