OKLAHOMA CITY (ABP) — By definition, a "sanctuary" should be a place of refuge and protection where people feel welcome and feel safe. In practice, churches struggle with what it means to open their doors to everyone while providing a…
Fred Shuttlesworth, civil rights pioneer, dies at 89
Fred Shuttlesworth BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) – Fred Shuttlesworth, the last of the “Big Three” of the civil rights movement with Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King Jr., died Oct. 5. He was 89. Among the general public Shuttlesworth was the…
Baptist peace group urges prayer for Liberian elections
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) – A Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America delegation just back from two weeks conducting training in conflict transformation and non-violence with Liberian pastors and leaders is calling on Christians everywhere to join in prayer and fasting…
Balance needed to make churches welcome and safe places
By definition, a "sanctuary" should be a place of refuge and protection where people feel welcome and feel safe. In practice, churches struggle with what it means to open their doors to everyone while providing a sense of security for…
Churches advised to begin by assessing risks
Concerned about developing a church security plan? Security expert Chester Quarles suggests starting with a risk assessment. "Risk assessment is usually historical. We need to know what has gone before," said Quarles, professor emeritus of criminal justice at the University…
How to conduct a basic church security survey
Walk around your church. Stand at each entryway and look closely in every direction. Think like a thief or a criminal. Are you surrounded by suburbs, or is your church now located within a business community? No matter your site,…
Proposed Virginia Baptist budget almost $1 million lower than current
LYNCHBURG, Va. — Virginia Baptists’ 2012 ministry budget will be almost $1 million less than their current one, if they adopt a proposal next month at the annual meeting of the Baptist General Association of Virginia. The proposed $12.4 million…
Virginia Baptists to consider renewed ties with Averett University
LYNCHBURG, Va. — Virginia Baptists will consider in November a proposal to renew ties to Averett University, a 152-year-old school in Danville, Va., whose relationship with the state’s Baptists was severed in 2005 in a dispute over homosexuality. The Virginia…
Supreme Court hears arguments in important church-state case
WASHINGTON (ABP) – The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Oct. 5 in a closely watched case involving a church’s right to hire or fire ministers for reasons like religious doctrine that in other settings would be job discrimination. “The…
Man sentenced in church embezzlement
Michael Whitt Barbara Whitt GREENVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) – A man convicted of conspiring with his mother to steal $1.5 million from a Tennessee Baptist church was sentenced Oct. 4 to just over four years in prison. Senior U.S. District Judge…
Pastor acquitted on molestation count
TUSCUMBIA, Mo. (ABP) — A Missouri Baptist minister has been acquitted in a child molestation charge heard in Miller County Sept. 28. Travis Smith, 41, pastor of First Baptist Church in Stover, Mo., was acquitted in the yearlong case after the jury…
High court says World Vision can hire only Christians
WASHINGTON (ABP) – The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a lower-court ruling that the Christian humanitarian organization World Vision can fire employees over religious doctrine. The high court declined without comment Oct. 3 to review an August 2010 ruling by…