Baptist News Global

Spare some change?

WASHINGTON — Every day, Lawaune Stockton stands with her cup in front of a downtown McDonald's, jingling the change inside as customers come and go. She cinches the strings on the hood of her sweatshirt to keep out the damp…

Practical tips on helping the homeless

Steve Burger, former executive director of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, urges Americans not to give money to the homeless on the streets. “If you give a dollar to a panhandler, often you are really funding the local tavern…

Lectionary helps some Baptist preachers feed their flocks a ‘balanced diet’

RICHMOND—It's Saturday night. Do you know where your pastor is? A pretty safe guess might be “in a study, frantically developing the next day's sermon.” But how does a preacher decide on the Scripture text? Some free-church Baptist pastors find…

Integrity demands preachers avoid pulpit plagiarism

If preachers pass off other people's work as their own, they automatically limit themselves to preaching about only eight commandments. “Thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt not bear false witness” become off-limits. But preachers can avoid plagiarism by beginning…

Virginia Baptist Mission Board elects officers, allocates funds for ministry

RICHMOND — The Virginia Baptist Mission Board elected new officers and allocated funds to a variety of statewide and international ministries during its organizational meeting Nov. 27-28 at the Virginia Baptist Resource Center. Joe Lewis, pastor of Second Baptist Church…

Virginia Baptists assisting victims of devastating cyclone in Bangladesh

RICHMOND — Virginia Baptists are providing assistance to victims of the cyclone that devastated parts of Bangladesh in November. More than 3,500 people were killed in the Ganges River delta along the Bay of Bengal. Terry Raines, coordinator for mobile…

In Afton, an unexpected sight: First-century Bethlehem recreated

AFTON — The Village of Bethlehem in Afton, Va., is a small replica of the actual City of David, and it comes to life each December when members of a little country church transform into first-century characters. Visitors from all…

Stand and deliver: ‘Knowing the people’ is key to successful preaching

(ABP) — God chose “the foolishness of preaching” as the preferred instrument for communicating the message of salvation, the Apostle Paul wrote. But when the time arrives to stand and deliver that message, how does a preacher measure whether it's…

Lectionary helps some preachers ‘divide word of truth,’ avoid repeats

(ABP) — It's Saturday night. Do you know where your pastor is? A safe guess might be “in a study, frantically developing the next day's sermon.” The pastor's task is to “carefully divide the word of truth,” but many pulpiteers…

Stand and deliver: Preachers urged to avoid pulpit plagiarism

(ABP) — If preachers pass off other people's work as their own, they automatically limit themselves to preaching about only eight commandments. “Thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt not bear false witness” become off-limits. But preachers can avoid plagiarism…

Hillary Clinton garners applause at Warren’s AIDS conference

LAKE FOREST, Calif. (ABP) — Despite controversy over her appearance there, Hillary Clinton has reportedly gotten rave reviews for a speech on combating AIDS she gave Nov. 29 at one of the country's largest evangelical churches. The Democratic New York…

Appeals court upholds ruling against funding for Christian prison programs

ST. LOUIS (ABP) — A federal appeals court has affirmed a lower court's decision saying state funding for a Christian prison program in Iowa was unconstitutional. But the three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in its…

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