Baptist News Global

Obama speech spurs IRS investigation

WASHINGTON (ABP) — A speech that Barack Obama made last year to his fellow Congregationalists has spurred an Internal Revenue Service investigation that threatens the tax-exempt status of an entire denomination. Leaders of the Illinois senator's United Church of Christ…

Obama says he’ll use ‘bully pulpit’ to encourage same-sex marriage

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama sought the support of voters in the homosexual community Feb. 28, telling them in a letter that if elected president he would work to pass laws important to that constituency and…

Wilberforce documentary to air on PBS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — One year after the movie Amazing Grace reintroduced America to William Wilberforce, a new documentary about the famous Christian abolitionist seeks to shed more light on the British man whose fight against slavery inspired Abraham Lincoln…

VBS influence too great to ignore, says LifeWay resource specialist

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — Vacation Bible School is huge. How huge? Almost 1 in 16 children ages 5-12 in America was enrolled in a Southern Baptist VBS, according to figures from 2006. Add the number of non-SBC Vacation Bible Schools…

Abstinence pact means AIDS relief bill back on track

WASHINGTON (ABP) — A bill that would more than triple the amount of money the United States spends combating the AIDS pandemic got a boost Feb. 27 with a compromise over abstinence-focused prevention efforts and abortion. House leaders and White…

Senate bars abortion funds on reservations

WASHINGTON (BP) — The U.S. Senate voted Feb. 26 to prohibit federal funding for abortion as part of an Indian health care bill. Senators approved the amendment 52-42. The Senate approved the overall bill, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act,…

In Jena, revival overpowers racial tensions

JENA, La. (BP) — Last Sept. 20, more than 20,000 people from across the nation gathered in small Jena, La., to protest an outbreak of racial tensions at the local high school, exposing old feelings of racism and hate. Celebrities…

SBC president asks for help for Union

JACKSON, Tenn. (BP) — Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page called for Southern Baptist churches to give generously to Union University as the campus seeks to recover from more than $40 million in damages sustained in a Feb. 5 tornado….

FIRST-PERSON: Moving beyond Feb. 5

JACKSON, Tenn. (BP) — C.S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain says that God often uses the experiences of suffering as a megaphone to awaken us. Suffering and pain, Lewis said, are often the essential means by which God brings…

FIRST HAND: Persecution continues in India’s Orissa state

Loving greetings in the name of Jesus Christ from the Kandhamal, Orissa, where your brethren are undergoing much persecution and need your prayer and encouragement. The effected brethren are still in fear and despair in their own villages. Several of…

Thanks for partnership

I am glad to know that you are safely back to home and at your place of work. I do not want to say just a thank you. It is more than that. Your presence, message in the mission week…

Great preaching resource

I highly recommend God's Stories, by Fred Anderson, as one of the very best preaching resources I've come across in a long time. This past Sunday I used one of the stories as a spoken call to worship, and had…

Islamophobia is the next bogeyman

The Black Church cannot remain America’s emergency moral infrastructure

We are manna

Webinar explores religious context of America’s Founders