WASHINGTON (ABP) – The State Department released an annual report Sept. 13 detailing violations of religious freedom around the world. Suzan Johnson Cook Suzan Johnson Cook, an ordained Baptist minister recently sworn in as United States ambassador-at-large for international religious…
Morally, 9/11 mixed for Americans, theologian says at Baptist seminary
SHAWNEE, Kan. (ABP) – Many 9/11 speakers discussed whether America is any safer now than it was 10 years ago, but a Baptist seminary in Kansas pondered a decade later whether Americans are better people. Addressing a packed house at…
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship seeks search committee members
ATLANTA (ABP) — Elected leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship are seeking names to consider for a search committee to recommend a replacement for the moderate Baptist organization’s retiring CEO. Daniel Vestal, executive coordinator of the Atlanta-based CBF since 1996,…
Baptists aid Syrian refugees pouring into Lebanon
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) – Thousands of Syrian refugees pouring into Lebanon in recent months are being met with Baptist aid. The Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development and the Rahbe Baptist Church have coordinated receipt and spending of…
Passport begins week of online 9/11 reflections
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) – Ten years ago, leaders of the student and education ministry Passport felt that after the 9/11 terrorist attacks that pre-printed Advent devotions were suddenly out of date. They quickly produced replacement online devotions on a website…
Baptists minister to physical, spiritual needs caused by Texas wildfires
BASTROP, Texas (ABP) — Dan Franklin couldn’t even smell the scent of smoke Friday that entailed the destruction of about 1,500 homes, the burning of about 34,000 acres and the loss of two lives. The volunteer chaplain with the Texas…
EDITORIAL: Aunt Ida celebrates recovery
Dear Jimmy, I don’t know what got into me. It all started about eight months ago. As I was passin’ by the television set there in the front room I had a notion to turn it off since there wasn’t…
TRENDING: New Zealand clues — Blending with the neighborhood
“Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10) After the Babylonian Exile, the people of God couldn’t simply re-install a ruling king. Israel was no longer large and in charge, the dominant…
VITAL SIGNS: Intervention
The award-winning reality show Intervention is about addiction and the extraordinary lengths it can take to face one’s unhealthy compulsions. Each episode chronicles the attempts by family members and friends to bring health to someone who is destroying their life….
OUT LOUD
“In our era of creeping moral relativism, one of the best contributions of Christians in American culture has been that some of us still believe in objective truth and real right and wrong. But that rigorous moral code was all…
OPINION: Being careful with terminology
A week or two after the 2004 election, I was dining with some friends in New York when the conversation turned to religion and politics — the two things that you're never supposed to discuss in polite company. George W….
ASK THE ARCHITECT: Planning a church’s facilties requires analysis
Now we hit the runway! We have flown at 33.000 feet in understanding the critical importance of mission statement development for your church, and then a series of articles on master planning enabled us to take a helicopter view of…