Baptist News Global

Speakers predict sermons will change in the next wave of postmodern worship

Maybe the pulpit is a safe-house in the worship wars. In the past half century, evangelical worship has seen a lot of changes. Music styles have morphed, orders of service have flip-flopped, chalk talks gave way to PowerPoint presentations and…

Mexican churches jam cell phones during worship

(ABP) — They sound off during formal dinners, in restaurants, at the movies and even in churches. They’ve become the bane of every public speaker. The dreaded cell phones. As technology has given us the ability to reach out and…

Proposal would nix N.C.’s giving options

(ABP) — A North Carolina Baptist leader will propose scrapping the optional funding plans that are part of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s budget, which would eliminate funding of causes popular among moderate Baptists in the state. Ted…

BJC receives $100,000 for lecture series

(ABP) — A Baptist historian and his wife have given the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty a large gift to establish a lectureship on church-state issues. The Washington-based BJC announced the $100,000 gift from Walter and Kay Shurden of…

County clears church’s housing project

A $38-million proposal by First Baptist Church of Clarendon in Arlington to develop an affordable housing complex was approved Oct. 23 by the Arlington County board. The Views of Clarendon, a unique mixed-use church and residential development project, will create…

Baptist leaders join other Christians in launching global anti-poverty project

The Baptist World Alliance is among some 260 Christian relief and development agencies that launched an ambitious global anti-poverty campaign Oct. 15. Paul Montacute, director of Baptist World Aid, joined other representatives for the launching ceremony of the Micah Challenge…

Army takes action against Boykin over speeches

(RNS) — The U.S. Army has taken “appropriate action” against an undersecretary who said the war on terrorism was a religious battle. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody told Reuters that the action against Lt. Gen. William G….

Gary Baldridge to leave CBF missions post

(ABP) — Gary Baldridge, who with his wife has led the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s global missions effort for five years, will leave the CBF at the end of the year to return to a career in writing. Daniel Vestal, CBF…

Southeastern audit finds nothing illegal, suggest changes, trustee leaders say

(ABP) — Auditors have made “a number of constructive suggestions for improvements” to financial procedures at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. The recommendations came after reports surfaced about a car given to an aide to former president…

IRS denies it told church not to pray for re-election

(RNS) — A Virginia pastor who prayed that God would re-elect President Bush says the Internal Revenue Service threatened him with charges of improper “electioneering,” but the IRS maintains it has made no decision in the case. The controversy erupted…

Members of Congress accepting religious trips

(RNS) — Over the past four-and-a-half years, private organizations spent nearly $570,000 flying members of Congress and their families around the globe on religion-related trips, putting them up in hotels and feeding them, a study of congressional records shows. An…

Church and people news

STAFF CHANGES Jim Day, to Broad Run Church, New Baltimore, as pastor. John Compton, resigning as senior pastor of First Church, Alexandria, to accept a similar position in Mississippi. Lance Yost, to Jahnke Road Church, Richmond, as bi-vocational pastor. DEATHS…

Supreme Court slides into partisanship

Before the fireworks, be careful what you drink

The contemptible case of Clarence Thomas

The permanent paradoxes of Christian thinking about war