Baptist News Global

A Baptist by any other name would …

These days, it appears Baptist churches and individuals across the theological spectrum are, for a variety of reasons, calling the very name “Baptist” into question. Truth is, that particular Protestant movement was called into question long before the name “Baptist”…

Churches invited to apply for new anti-racism historical review group

A new anti-racism program will pair some of the nation’s leading experts and curriculum on white supremacy with white congregations seeking to uncover and confront their own histories related to discrimination and race. “In Deed and Truth: Interrogating Legacies of…

On evangelicals, plagiarism and false academic credentials

Recently, I read about a major leader in a large evangelical denomination who had paid for and plagiarized many of his sermons. I also read the tragic tale of another very respected evangelical “apologist” who claimed to have studied at…

Interim president of SBC Executive Committee resigns, admits to falsifying resume

The interim president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee — recently considered a likely candidate for the permanent post — resigned abruptly Aug. 17. A statement from the chairman of Executive Committee trustees said McLaurin had falsified information on…

A tough mind and a tender heart

Recently a pair of mourning doves chose a high shelf on the front of our home to build their nest. They flew back and forth for days, twigs in their beaks, cooing excitedly. When the delicate construction was complete, it…

Progression or regression: Racism and women

He was tall, dark and handsome. As his ebony skin glistened in the sunlight, he looked like a Nigerian king. John Lawale was introduced to Jesus by the preaching of Josephine Scaggs, a Southern Baptist missionary from Sapulpa, Okla. She…

Bipartisan coalition once again urges Republicans to stop blocking Afghan Adjustment Act

Refugee advocates are pulling out the stops to pressure Congress and the White House to pass legislation granting permanent legal status to more than 70,000 war-ravaged Afghans evacuated to the U.S. in 2021. Proponents of the Afghan Adjustment Act used…

Now I know my grandmother was a person, not just an event

Note: This article includes graphic descriptions of suicide. In my life, she wasn’t a person. She was an event. My mother’s mother ended her own life with a shotgun blow to the head. It’s a conversation stopper if there ever…

Transitions for the week of 8-18-23

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Bob Baker, to Fifth Avenue Baptist Church, Huntington, W.Va., as interim pastor. Julia Butler, to First Baptist Church,…

McRaney warns dismissal of his case against NAMB raises urgent threat to Baptist autonomy

Unless challenged, one judge’s ruling could have profound implications for Baptist autonomy, according to Will McRaney, whose defamation suit against the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board was dismissed Aug. 15. “The judge’s ruling is built around the erroneous…

Six lessons I’ve learned about doubt

“I have doubts. I have such doubts.” Those are the closing words of Doubt, a 2008 Academy Award-winning film starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. Those anguished words of doubt were spoken by Sister Aloysius,…

Focus on the Family falsely says only liberal churches are declining

Quiet quitting. Conscious uncoupling. The great dechurching. The “dones.” These are the terms coined to describe today’s historic downturn in church affiliation, including evangelical congregations. “More than one in 10 Americans — around 40 million of us — stopped attending…

Theologizing with Larkin Poe, 10 years after Reskinned

Ministry leader with tall tales wins GOP bid for Colorado governor

What Willy Rice once knew

What I learned July 5 at church