Baptist News Global

Betty Law was a Baptist missions pioneer, serving both SBC and CBF

Betty Law, a pioneering missionary who played pivotal roles in both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, died April 16 in Fort Worth, Texas. At the time of her retirement from what was then known as the…

Transitions for the week of 5-12-23

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Marty Akins, to First Baptist Church, Ballinger, Texas, as pastor. Josh Beeler, to Madison Heights (Va.) Baptist Church,…

Florida Baptist Convention is victim of financial fraud

The Florida Baptist Convention has been the victim of financial fraud, its leaders said in a public statement May 10. The exact nature of the fraud and the amount of money involved were not disclosed. Baptist News Global asked an…

A meditation on death

My sister-in-law Faye died this weekend after a long and debilitating chronic illness. Not surprisingly, her husband of 60-plus years wondered why God allowed her to suffer. I don’t think God did. I don’t think God causes, allows or wills…

Live by the mouth, die by the mouth

There’s no disputing Donald Trump is the all-time champion mouth. He used his mouth to get elected president of the United States. Now, his mouth has been the primary culprit in a New York jury finding him liable for battery…

Texas Ten Commandments bill is a bad idea, Tyler and Hollman warn

Legislation that would require posting the Ten Commandments in every Texas public school classroom has gone largely unnoticed nationally, but it hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, its leaders said recently. Senate Bill 1515 “hasn’t…

‘We have no king but Caesar’

Experience, circumstances and rereading Scripture often gives us a fresh look at very familiar biblical passages. One such passage from John 19:15 appeared in the expanded text from a recent Bible study lesson: “They therefore cried out, ‘Away with him,…

These Christians are praying for an end to the death penalty

Death penalty abolitionists are turning to organized prayer in the national movement to end state and federal capital punishment. The approach began with a virtual gathering of faith and social justice leaders May 4 — the National Day of Prayer…

Best be prepared: The antidisestablishmentarians are coming for our consciences!

Remember the word we often heard at elementary school spelling bees — “antidisestablishmentarianism” — said to be the longest word in the English language? Well, it isn’t, not anymore. That honor now belongs to “acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene,” defined as “a tough rigid…

‘God’s plant’ has cured kids, now the new frontier is psychedelics

The six Stanley brothers were taught that marijuana was bad news, both at church and at Colorado Springs Christian School. But after pot helped their cancer-stricken cousin Ron, the brothers entered the medical marijuana business to work with “God’s plant.”…

Loneliness is killing us

What more can we say of loneliness, the disease that afflicts modern Americans from depressed children to isolated elders? We know many of the causes: social disconnection, the decline of community institutions, the radical individualism we often mistake for personal…

Tamela Mann praises Jesus as she turns out the hits

Even when history was on the line, Tamela Mann was determined not to cry. In this instance, history began with a phone call from her husband, David. “David, who is also my manager, called and said, ‘You’ve broken the record;…

Supreme Court slides into partisanship

Before the fireworks, be careful what you drink

The contemptible case of Clarence Thomas

The permanent paradoxes of Christian thinking about war