Baptist News Global

Virginia sends voters marriage amendment

Virginia's legislature has officially placed a constitutional marriage amendment on the November ballot, giving voters in the state a say on the issue of gay marriage. The Virginia Senate March 8 unanimously passed the bill that places the amendment on…

‘Rare’ Baptist exec Ed Schmeltekopf dies after long battle with Parkinson’s

FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — Texas Baptist denominational leader Ed Schmeltekopf died March 29 after an extended illness related to his longtime battle with Parkinson's disease. Schmeltekopf, 73, served nearly two decades as associate executive director of the Baptist General…

Gulfport church says goodbye to buildings gutted by Katrina

GULFPORT, Miss. (ABP) — Members of this city's First Baptist Church bid farewell March 26 to the hollow shell of their beachfront sanctuary, decimated by Hurricane Katrina, in order to move to an inland location less vulnerable to storms. Stark…

Threat of death for conversion not unique to Afghanistan

(ABP) — As Afghan Adbul Rahman seeks safety in Italy after dodging a death sentence for converting from Islam to Christianity, other Christians worldwide continue to face extreme persecution from countrymen who oppose their beliefs. While Rahman's case gained national…

Texas woman nominated as next CBF moderator

DALLAS (ABP) — Texas leadership consultant Harriet Harral will be nominated as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's moderator-elect, the highest elected position in the national group. “I am both humbled and excited,” Harral told Associated Baptist Press. “CBF is so blessed…

Catholics, mainliners, Jews, evangelicals unite to support immigration reform

WASHINGTON (ABP) — The debate over immigration reform currently dividing America at large — and congressional Republicans in particular — ironically is uniting a wide spectrum of the religious community that views immigration reform as a moral issue. The Roman…

Tenn. pastor’s wife appears in court; mourners gather at husband’s funeral

SELMER, Tenn. (ABP) — Mary Winkler, the woman charged with fatally shooting her pastor husband, made her first appearance in court March 27, one day before more than 500 mourners attended the Church of Christ pastor's funeral. Winkler did not…

Exhibition on Bible in China coming to 3 U.S. cities

ATLANTA (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is partnering with the China Christian Council to bring an exhibition on the Bible in China to three U.S. cities this spring and summer. The exhibition will highlight the Bible ministry of Chinese…

Austin association pulls funding from student ministry at UT

AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) — The Austin Baptist Association is cutting off funding to the Baptist Student Ministry at the state's largest university in order to redirect money to starting churches. The University of Texas student ministry will lose about $4,000…

Condemned Afghan Christian freed, goes into hiding; others jailed

WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Afghan man threatened with execution for converting to Christianity was freed and went into immediate hiding March 27, according to news reports. Meanwhile, according to an agency that monitors persecution of Christians, at least two other…

CORRECTION

In the March 22 ABP story “IMB won't remove blogging trustee but prohibits dissent in future actions,” an IMB trustee quoted in the 33rd paragraph was misidentified. Please replace the paragraph with the following: “When we become trustees, we give…

Despite resistance, Dallas City Council OKs homeless units near Baptist school

DALLAS (ABP) — As the heads of two Christian organizations, Jake Walters and Larry James both want to do good. But the ways they've decided to follow Jesus' command to love others are mutually exclusive — at least for the…

What you’re not seeing: Tens of thousands of children separated from parents

The way we were

Talarico’s pastor pushes back on Daily Wire’s claims

Spiritual formation is how churches learn whom to hear