Baptist News Global

Black churches split over support for Obama and resistance to endorsing gay marriage

(RNS) — At Charity Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, S.C., Nelson B. Rivers III supports and follows his African-American congregation’s policy: They will only conduct marriages between one man and one woman. But the vice president of the NAACP…

OUT LOUD

“As hard as we work to try to convince the rest of the world that Mississippi has changed —and, in fact, we have — to see an unfortunate situation like that occur is very disappointing.” Phil Bryant The governor of…

TRENDING: The future of creativity, part 2: Against brainstorming

Jonah Lehrer’s Imagine: How Creativity Works makes an appealing case that the future of imagination and creativity will emerge from groups rather than from solitary genius. But before you leave the solitude of your study for a table of six at…

Team named to address Calvinism in SBC

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee president Frank Page has announced the members of an advisory team who will help him craft a strategic plan to bring together various groups within the convention who hold different opinions…

LETTER: The defining mark of Christian discipleship

Jesus, who never wrote anything, is quoted as saying, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Today he has over seven billion disciples. Shortly after Jesus’ murder, an educated Jewish writer…

LETTER: Interpreting Scripture for the 21st century

This morning as I cleaned my desk—post-vacation procrastination as I desperately tried to prolong the last remnants of two weeks of complete irresponsibility—I came across one of your Herald articles that I had cut out for future reference. “The birds…

LETTER: Agrees with countyâ€™s decision

The wonderful opinion article by Dr. Ellis West [Herald, Aug. 6] echoed similar thoughts I felt with the recent decision of the Henrico County Board of Supervisors to cease having invocations (prayers) before their public board meetings. As a citizen…

Orthodox Jews mark end of 7-year Talmud study, 2,711 pages later

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (RNS) — Some have called their efforts a spiritual calling, a labor of love, a rich opportunity to connect with thousands of years of Jewish history and religion. Others have viewed them as a relentless endeavor and…

Tebowâ€™s gridiron faith: A Q&A with sports observer Michael Butterworth

(RNS) Can Tim Tebow do no wrong? Michael Butterworth of Bowling Green State University has turned his attention to sports media coverage of Tebow, an evangelical Christian and New York Jets quarterback. The author of a forthcoming article in the…

GuideStone hopes to expand coverage to church members

GuideStone Financial Resources president O.S. Hawkins told members of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee that changing the entity’s ministry assignment to make its investment and insurance products available to church members would benefit Southern Baptists, the denomination’s news service…

Averett sees record number of new students, increase in total enrollment

DANVILLE, Va. — For the third consecutive year, Averettâ€ˆUniversity has broken records in new student enrollment — bringing the school’s total enrollment to its highest level since 2000. The Baptist-affiliated school in Danville, Va., added 360 new students this fall,…

Church van crash kills two youth in Tennessee congregationâ€™s pastor is former Va. Baptist leader

MARYVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Two people were killed and 12 others injured Sept. 16 when a van carrying youth from Cedar Grove Baptist Church in Maryville, Tenn. — whose pastor is a former Virginia Baptist leader — collided head-on with…

What Disclosure Day reveals about evangelicals’ fears

Insufficient

6 ways the Reflecting Pool boondoggle mirrors Trump and MAGA

Pilate asked Jesus, ‘What is truth?’