Baptist News Global

EDITORIAL: Time for the BGAV to affirm its own priorities

On Mother’s Day morning, before church, our phone rang. Picking it up, I could tell from the caller ID it was from our daughter’s household. “Hello!” I intoned cheerfully. The 6-year-old voice on the other end belonged to our younger…

HERITAGE: Dinner on the grounds

It’s that time of the year. Homecomings traditionally were held at churches in late summer or early fall when the crops had been laid by. Many churches picked a set date — the third Sunday in July or the first…

LUCHA Ministries helps Latinos in Virginia cope with ‘struggle’

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Cuál es tu lucha? That question — What is your struggle? — is what motivated the creation of LUCHA Ministries six years ago to work with Latinos in the Fredericksburg area. Lucha means “struggle” in English and…

Baptists view growing Hispanic population as opportunity

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The Census Bureau reports the Hispanic population in the United States has more than doubled in the last 20 years, from 22 million in 1990 to a projected 47 million in 2010. In 40 years, experts…

Vestal says CBF will have to recall missionaries unless funding improves

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will be forced to recall missionaries from the field if donations to its annual Offering for Global Missions do not increase next year, CBF Executive Coordinator Daniel Vestal told the CBF Coordinating…

Latino Network focuses on Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking Virginians

RICHMOND, Va. — In the spring of 2004, Latino pastors and church leaders in Virginia gathered at Sandston Baptist Church in Richmond’s eastern suburbs for the first Encuentro de Pastores y Lideres de las Iglesias Bautistas de Virginia. The event…

Westover children get creative for Pentecost

Children painting the paraments. For thousands of years people of faith have used special fabrics to decorate sanctuaries and outfit ministers. These dressings, known as paraments, can be functional, ceremonial and celebratory. They often enrich the worship of God by…

Texas church fighting hunger in its area one child at a time

DECATUR, Texas (ABP) — When Ken May and Candy Burden learned that one child in 10 in their area goes to bed hungry every night, they decided to do something about it. Every Wednesday this summer, volunteers from First Baptist…

After GCR, beware a new golden calf

By Bill Webb The report and recommendations of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) Task Force were in no real danger of being rejected by messengers to last week’s SBC annual meeting in Orlando. Task force leaders apparently…

VIRGINIA BAPTIST FORUM: Need for a name change

I was overjoyed to read your editorial in the May 27 issue concerning our Baptist name [Herald, May 27]. I have been playing that same tune for many years and it is nice to hear it from someone else. The…

VIRGINIA BAPTIST FORUM: Grateful for support

I would like to respond to the article “Death in a minister’s family (Herald, June 10). After over 41 years of marriage my wife Judy passed away March 22, 2010. Since I was called to vocational ministry after our marriage…

VIRGINIA BAPTIST FORUM: No amnesty for illegal immigrants

It was disappointing to read Bob Allen’s article titled “Conservative evangelicals call for immigration reform” in the May 27 Religious Herald. The article recommended immigration reform and those quoted recommended providing illegals presently in the U.S. what they call “an…

Y’all means all

Religious liberty ‘is not a sword to harm others,’ Laser says

The stories we tell define us

Whatever happened to heaven?