Baptist News Global

Plan allows N.C. colleges to elect trustees but give up funding

ASHEBORO, N.C. (ABP) — The five colleges affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina would be able to elect their own trustees under a plan adopted by the convention's board of directors, but the schools will lose the…

Latest Senate immigration proposal long shot but needed, ethicist says

WASHINGTON (ABP) — Although it may face an uphill battle in Congress, some Christian leaders are saying the Senate's latest immigration-reform proposal is better than nothing. The legislation passed an initial test May 21 when the Senate voted to consider…

Vietnam vets organizing reunion of former Saigon Baptist church

HIDEAWAY, Texas (ABP) — Baptist churches, sometimes known for holding endless committee meetings and forming factions pitted against each other for slight offences, could learn a thing or two from Trinity Baptist Church of the former Saigon, Vietnam. According to…

Drake won’t repeat as SBC 2nd VP but won’t rule out higher office

BUENA PARK, Calif. (ABP) — Wiley Drake, the Los Angeles-area pastor, radio crusader and Southern Baptist Convention gadfly, has announced he will not allow himself to be nominated for a second term as second vice president of the convention. The…

Missouri pastor named director of ministerial excellence at CBF

ATLANTA — Steve Graham, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Liberty, Mo., has been named director of ministerial excellence for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. He will assume the new role in June. The initiative for ministerial excellence is funded by…

Missouri conservatives organize against their former movement

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP) — Eleven ministers who supported conservatives' efforts to take control of the Missouri Baptist Convention now say that the people they put in power have taken conservatism too far. The group voiced its concerns publicly in…

Huckabee cancels Covenant speech over Jimmy Carter’s criticism of Bush

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (ABP) — Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has cancelled plans to speak at the New Baptist Covenant Celebration next January because of organizer Jimmy Carter's recent criticism of President Bush. Carter criticized Bush's foreign policy in a…

Updated: Carter meets with SBC bloggers, who welcome gesture

ATLANTA (ABP) — Some of the Southern Baptist Convention's most prominent bloggers reacted positively to a summit they held with former President Jimmy Carter May 17 in Atlanta. Carter and the leaders discussed building a broad range of Baptist support…

Woven together

The drive to weave ties among local churches is housed deep in the Baptist DNA, some observers of denominational life say. It's an instinct almost as visceral as another, often competing, Baptist charactertistic — a fierce independence of thought and…

Networks: New label or a new way for churches to relate

Some associations of churches call themselves “networks” now. And their directors of missions insist it's more than just a trendy change in terminology. As missions director for a West Texas area that included both Midland and Odessa Baptist associations, Wayne…

Competing state conventions challenge associations

Dual—and sometimes dueling—state conventions often present a challenge for associations of churches. In keeping with Baptist polity, associations are autonomous, stand-alone organizations, just as Baptist churches and state and national conventions are. But in practice, associations have maintained close ties…

MC2 offers opportunities for learning and service

RICHMOND — This summer the Virginia Baptist Mission Board's Mission Connection Celebration (MC2), formerly called Family Missions Week, will offer a wide variety of opportunities for missions learning and service. To be held at Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference Center July…

Understanding Al Mohler’s case against women

BNG podcasts feature each SBC presidential candidate

What the church got wrong about queer people

Trump admin denies hunger strike at immigrant detention center