Baptist News Global

Faithful preachers proclaim God’s message without fear, Jamaican Baptist insists

HONOLULU — Preaching should be dangerous business, because faithful preachers dare to deliver a message from God — regardless of the consequences, Karl Johnson, general secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union, told the Baptist World Congress. Addressing the 20th Congress…

World Baptists honor Lotz for human rights advocacy

HONOLULU — To be true to their heritage and principles, Baptists must continue the fight for religious liberty for all people, insisted Denton Lotz, who received the Baptist World Alliance’s Human Rights Award July 30 in Honolulu. Lotz, the Alliance’s…

Christians must liberate & be liberated, seminarian tells Baptist World Alliance

HONOLULU — Christians are called to be agents of liberation, but they also desperately need to be liberated themselves, ministry educator Janet Clark stressed at the 20th Baptist World Congress in Honolulu July 30. Jesus focused on liberation in his…

Longtime mission leader Avery Willis dies

BELLA VISTA, Ark. (ABP) — Avery Willis, a former Southern Baptist missionary and administrator best known as developer of the MasterLife discipleship materials used around the world, died July 30, nearly eight months after being diagnosed with a rare form of…

Christians commanded to love their Muslim neighbors, panelists insist

HONOLULU — A West Texas missions professor who served more than two decades in Indonesia and an Arab Baptist educator from Lebanon emphasized the need to reach out in love to Muslims. Robert Sellers, missions professor at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon…

North American Baptists examine series of ‘shifts’

HONOLULU — Baptists from across Canada and the United States examined seven key “shifts” July 29 that have impacted the North American Baptist Fellowship. The NABF includes Baptists from the two predominantly English-speaking nations in North America. It held its…

Faith and Fitness: Divinity student joins worship, fitness discipline

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Claire McKeever, a Baylor University graduate studying for the ministry at Vanderbilt Divinity School, preaches that worship isn’t just for the soul. Claire McKeever leads a Nia dance session at Glendale Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn….

Faith and Fitness: Exercise good until it becomes a false god

NEW YORK (ABP) — The sixth chapter of First Corinthians describes the body as “a temple of the Holy Spirit.” For many Christians that means what they do with their body matters to God, including physical fitness. A few, however,…

Faith and Fitness: Clinic preaches the gospel of fitness

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (ABP) — Fitness can, literally, be a life-and-death issue for people in underprivileged communities. So a Christian medical ministry in one of the nation’s poorest big cities is preaching the gospel of fitness through local churches. Minister and…

Preach good news, proclaim freedom, seminary president urges Baptists

HONOLULU (ABP) — Preach Christ’s good news and proclaim freedom, seminary president Pablo Deiros challenged participants at the 20th Baptist World Congress in Honolulu July 29. “As Baptists, we need to realize the proclamation of the good news is the…

Son of church secretary accused of embezzling also charged

MORRISTOWN, Tenn. (ABP) — Police in Morristown, Tenn., have made a second arrest in the investigation of a longtime financial secretary accused of embezzling $1.5 million from a Southern Baptist church. According to local media, Michael Whitt, 42, has been…

Getting a life — and giving life

By Amy Butler When young pastors ask me for advice on self-care (insert uproarious laughter here) I always say that one very important part of survival in the trenches of ministry is getting a life. Outside the church. While one…

Trump’s war on ‘woke’ targets federal grants and foreign relations

Reflections on In the Twilight of the Christian West

Why rural families need support now

Why do we keep sounding the alarm?