Baptist News Global

When a Mexican cartel kidnapped a Baptist pastor, they got more than they bargained for

A Mexican cartel got more than it bargained for earlier this month by kidnapping Lorenzo Ortiz, an American pastor who operates shelters for asylum seekers and other migrants south of the U.S.-Mexico border. His abduction at 6 p.m. June 2…

The Black community needs allies who listen and act, scholar says

The quest for racial justice in the United States needs more white people who hear the concerns of their Black neighbors and respond with concrete actions, a Black church scholar wrote in a New York newspaper. In an op-ed published…

Maybe seminaries should offer a class in mergers and acquisitions

I should have figured this out right away, but it took me several months of driving by the mid-sized Baptist church building on the busy freeway to connect all the dots. The church I knew had been battling decline for…

Reflections on my mother’s funeral: The heart has reasons

While I was writing my first book, my 85-year-old mother died unexpectedly. She was in an assisted living facility, but she had no serious health issues. She entered the hospital severely dehydrated and was in acute renal failure, although she…

Georgia Baptists hit snag on sale of 16-year-old headquarters property in suburban Atlanta

A state Baptist convention’s planned sale of its multi-million-dollar office building has hit a snag with county zoning officials. The Georgia Baptist Mission Board needs to sell its 40-acre property located in Gwinnett County, Ga., and it has a buyer…

When ‘orthodoxy’ won’t hold: The SBC and the rest of us

In a May 26 New York Times column, “The Southern Baptist Moral Meltdown,” conservative commentator David Brooks wrote: “They dedicated their lives to a gospel that says that every human being is made in the image of God. They dedicated…

At Faith and Freedom conference, evangelical Christian voters once again abandon their concern for marital fidelity

Providing further evidence that evangelical Christian voters no longer care about some moral failures as disqualifying, those attending the Faith and Freedom Coalition gathering in Nashville June 18 applauded Herschel Walker, despite recent revelations that he fathered three children not…

Annual report on Baptist women in ministry finds some gains but serious losses due to COVID

Women in ministry continue to feel blocked in their callings and ignored in their ministry settings because they are female, according to an annual report released June 21 by Baptist Women in Ministry. “The State of Women in Baptist Life,”…

Seven suggestions for preventing conflict before it happens

As surely as we can expect thunderstorms in the summer, hurricanes in the fall and blizzards in the winter, the church is about to experience a season of conflict that threatens to unravel our faith communities. Much of this is…

Church-state separationists join Justice Sotomayor in blasting the Supreme Court’s ruling in a Maine school voucher case

Church-state separationists lambasted a June 21 decision of the United States Supreme Court that granted parents in Maine access to taxpayer-funded vouchers to send their children to private religious schools. Meanwhile, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a scathing dissent from the…

The gospel according to mammals

If I were not a pastor, my life would look very, very different. In fact, after I graduated with an undergraduate degree in anthropology, I had two options to consider: one of my professors encouraged me to apply for an…

Conservative clergywoman claims United Methodist system unjust

Among Protestant denominations, The United Methodist Church admittedly has one of the most complicated, lengthy processes for ordaining its clergy. Now a clergywoman has written a “whistleblower” book claiming the UMC’s ordination process is rife with nepotism, cronyism, bullying and…

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