Baptist News Global

Storyteller Calvin Miller leads 2009 BGAV Pastors’ Conference

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Calvin Miller believes in stories. Writer in residence and research professor at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala., Miller points to Jesus’ narrative parables as proof of the power and potential of stories to be remembered and…

Haymarket church finds ministry in South Africa

HAYMARKET, Va. — Five members of Haymarket Baptist Church traveled to South Africa Oct. 2-16 to work among the varied people of the Eastern Cape. The group was led by Haymarket’s associate pastor of Christian education, Matthew Hensley. Team members…

Advocate believes Christian-run prison would be constitutional

DALLAS (ABP) — A Baptist minister hoping to open the nation's first faith-based prison says he is confident it will pass constitutional muster. Americans United for Separation of Church and State wrote the Oklahoma Department of Corrections Nov. 18 saying…

Wiley Drake lifts call for ‘imprecatory prayer’ against President Obama

BUENA PARK, Calif. (ABP) — A former Southern Baptist Convention officer who made headlines in June when he said on national radio that he was praying for Barack Obama to die now says he wants to see the president live…

Does the SBC respect local-church autonomy or not?

By Wade Burleson During the November 11, 2009, business session of the Georgia Baptist Convention, messengers to the Southern Baptist-affiliated state body dismissed the First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga., from fellowship for the church’s calling of Julie Pennington-Russell as…

Group says proposed Okla. Christian prison likely unconstitutional

WASHINGTON (ABP) — A church-state watchdog group says a faith-based prison being proposed in Oklahoma would likely be unconstitutional. Americans United for Separation of Church and State wrote the Oklahoma Department of Corrections Nov. 18 advising the state not to…

Teaching laypeople about the honor of preaching the gospel

By Amy Butler If I were being completely honest, I would tell you that the whole idea was a little, tiny bit self-serving. Having recently completed my doctor-of-ministry degree in preaching, I, strangely enough, managed to maintain my passion for…

SECOND OPINION: Teaching laypeople about preaching — and rediscovering its beauty

If I were being completely honest, I would tell you that the whole idea was a little, tiny bit self-serving. Having recently completed my doctor-of-ministry degree in preaching, I, strangely enough, managed to maintain my passion for the subject even…

LifeWay’s ‘Bible Navigator X’ reaches out to video gamers

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Attention video gamers: The Bible is coming to an Xbox near you. LifeWay Christian Resources recently announced plans to introduce an Xbox 360 application featuring the complete Holman Christian Standard Bible. Due out in December, "Bible…

ACLU sues Tenn. school district for repeatedly promoting religion

ASHLAND CITY, Tenn. (ABP) — Tennessee's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Nov. 16 accusing the Cheatham County Board of Education of ignoring more than four decades of court decisions interpreting the separation of church and…

New domestic-poverty stats a wake-up call, Baptist ethicists say

WASHINGTON (ABP) — New government numbers revealing that, in 2008, nearly one in six Americans lived in households that struggled to afford food ought to be a wake-up call for Christians, according to two Baptist ethicists. An annual USDA report…

BGCT annual meeting draws few for business, many for evangelism

HOUSTON (ABP) — The Nov. 16-17 2009 Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting in Houston attracted the fewest messengers in at least 60 years, but a series of evangelistic events prior to the meeting marked the greatest involvement and…

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