Baptist News Global

The Kingdom of God looks like…

By Amy Butler When I first took up preaching every Sunday I made the decision to follow the Revised Common Lectionary as a guide for worship planning. It would be nice to say that I chose to do this because…

Gulf oil spill prompts environmental soul-searching

WASHINGTON (RNS)—The constant loop of disheartening images from the Gulf of Mexico—oil-covered pelicans, dead sea turtles, despairing fishermen—has prompted many Americans to seek ways to do something, anything, to take better care of the Earth. But what? And how? While…

RIGHT or WRONG? Moral decay

Almost every week, another new study seems to document the decline of congregational life in America. I think the decline can all be traced to moral decay. What do you think? Surveys show the generation on the cusp of adulthood,…

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 project that…

Southern Baptists denounce Gulf oil spill, divorce, gay-rights proposals

ORLANDO, Fla. (ABP) – The Southern Baptist Convention denounced the Gulf of Mexico environmental calamity in a resolution June 16. “God has designed us with a dependence on the natural resources around us and has assigned us a dominion of…

SBC approves slightly reduced budget, recognizes retiring executives

ORLANDO, Fla. — Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, Fla., approved a pared down budget for 2010-2011 and honored two agency presidents who retire this year. They approved a $199,822,090 Cooperative Program allocation budget recommended by the SBC…

SBC resolutions highlight Gulf, family, homosexuality

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Southern Baptist Convention decried ecological catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, focused on the family and opposed the normalization of homosexuality as messengers approved seven resolutions with no debate during the SBC annual meeting in Orlando…

SBC messengers defeat attempt to open records of task force proceedings

ORLANDO, Fla. — Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Orlando, Fla., June 15-16 defeated an attempt to unseal written and audio recordings of Great Commission Resurgence task force proceedings. The task force recently announced it would seal the…

Suburban Atlanta pastor Bryant Wright elected SBC president

ORLANDO, Fla. (ABP) — In a field crowded with successful pastors and marked by disagreement over the recommendations of a denominational task force, messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting required a run-off to elect as their new president…

Approval signals Southern Baptist concern for ‘lostness,’ task force says

ORLANDO, Fla. (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention has overwhelmingly reaffirmed its intention to spread the gospel throughout the nation and around the world, members of the SBC’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force told reporters June 15. At least 75…

Southern Baptists rally around ‘Great Commission’

ORLANDO, Fla. (ABP) – The Southern Baptist Convention voted overwhelmingly June 15 to accept recommendations of a task force appointed last year to rally fragmented factions in the nation’s second-largest religious body around the “Great Commission,” Jesus’ command in the…

SBC overwhelmingly approves ‘Great Commission Resurgence’ report

ORLANDO (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention voted overwhelmingly June 15 to accept the recommendations of a task force appointed last year to rally fragmented factions in the denomination around the Great Commission, Jesus’ command in the Gospel of Matthew…

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