Baptist News Global

Quake shakes, but doesn’t tumble, faith of Haitians

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (RNS) — Did God abandon Haiti? No, say its people of faith — and there are many here in a place without much beyond faith. The earthquake was a sign of God’s presence. So, it should be no…

Former Baptist preacher found guilty of murder

WACO, Texas (ABP) — A jury in Waco, Texas, found former Baptist minister Matt Baker guilty of murder after more than seven hours of deliberation Jan. 20. Prosecutors called 28 witnesses, including Vanessa Bulls, Baker's former mistress, who testified that…

Ex-mistress testifies in former Baptist pastor’s murder trial

WACO, Texas (ABP) — The star witness at the trial of a former Baptist pastor charged with murdering his wife in 2006 testified Jan. 19 that the accused planned the crime, hoping to make it look like a suicide, and…

Martin Marty: No easy predictions for Baptists’ next 400 years

WACO, Texas (ABP) — Nobody can predict with certainty what the next 400 years hold for Baptists — or for any religious denomination — church historian Martin Marty told a recent gathering at Baylor University. Martin Marty speaks at Baylor…

Why do Baptists associate?

(Editor’s note: Neville Callam, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, recently spoke to leaders of the North American Baptist Fellowship, one of the BWA’s six regional fellowships, in Dallas. He discussed how one of his goals in discussing the…

EDITORIAL: Seeing the vision and living the dream

As I write these lines, the calendar says it is Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, and I’m in a reflective mood. Since my introduction to American Indians came via a round-screened Zenith television set in the mid 1950s, I viewed…

Black churches team with hospitals to push better diets for congregants

CLEVELAND (RNS) — For Deborah Taylor, keeping her body fit and eating well is a way of honoring God. So, when Taylor, a financial assistant for University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center, heard about the hospital’s Body & Soul program for…

YMCA seeks to reclaim ‘C’ in its name

SHERWOOD, Ore. (RNS) — The wooden box, not quite big enough to hold a pair of shoes, sits on the reception desk, just inside the Sherwood YMCA. Once a day, Roger Button empties the box, finds a quiet place to…

Church scores with men on football Sunday, attracting crowd to service

EAST ORANGE, N.J. (RNS) — Pastor Dwight Gill figures if there is one thing that will bring more men to church, it’s football. So, at New Hope Baptist Church, NFL doesn’t stand for National Football League, but rather for New…

Coaches have potential to teach Christian understanding of life

ABILENE, Texas — Christian coaches are in a position to teach far more than Xs and Os, a Hardin-Simmons University professor believes. Bob Moore, professor of fitness and sports science at the Baptist school, considers sports fallow ground for teaching…

Gridirons, goals & God: Christian athletes use spotlight to share faith

When Colt McCoy of the University of Texas expressed his faith in an interview following the Longhorns’ BCS championship game loss to Alabama Jan. 7, the quarterback placed himself in a growing cadre of Christian athletes becoming increasingly vocal about…

U.S. Baptists issue urgent fundraising appeals for Haiti

ATLANTA (ABP) — Baptist groups in the United States have launched urgent funding appeals for earthquake relief in Haiti. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has directed more than $15,000 in funds designated for "Haiti Earthquake Response" raised through a website appeal,…

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