Your bank has several locations. So does your cleaners. And your grocery store. Why not your church? Three Virginia Baptist churches sent representatives to a multi-site conference in Dallas to discover whether this model might hold potential for them. In…
Lawyers to challenge IRS
WASHINGTON (RNS) — A conservative Christian legal group has launched an initiative for pastors to challenge IRS rules that prevent them from discussing political candidates from the pulpit. The Alliance Defense Fund said May 9 that its “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,”…
Southside Association plans special day for church planter
Virginia Baptist minister Juan Carlos Gascon has faced many challenges with faith and gratitude. He now faces perhaps the greatest challenge imaginable. On March 11, Gascon, Hispanic church planter for the Southside Baptist Association, and his son, Jonathan, were in…
SBC annual meeting to focus on mission
INDIANAPOLIS (BP) — Fulfilling the mission Christ gave his followers — bringing lost souls into God's Kingdom — will be the focus of the 151st session of the Southern Baptist Convention when it convenes June 10-11 at the Indiana Convention…
Retirement seminars to help answer questions for ministers
RICHMOND — Church employees within 10 years of retirement begin confronting such questions as: • What should I do now to make sure I'm financially ready when I retire? • How much retirement income will I need? • What retirement…
CBF general assembly to gather in Memphis
ATLANTA — The 18th annual Cooperative Baptist Fellowship general assembly meets June 19-20 in Memphis, Tenn., where thousands of Fellowship Baptists are expected to gather for worship, annual business, fellowship and discussion on various social and religious issues. “The General…
EDITORIAL: Aunt Ida has the Bible Blues
Dear Jimmy, I guess bein' a retired farmer is a lot like bein' a retired preacher. You just can't seem to quit. It gets in your blood. Ya might even say it's a callin', farmin' is. Why, ever seed planted…
Credit union to support ABC workers, Thai villages
VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) — The ministry of two American Baptist Churches missionaries to underdeveloped Thai villages will be undergirded with a $232,500 gift from Christian Community Credit Union. According to the American Baptist News Service, the nationwide Christian banking…
A theology of ecology
During the most recent Earth Day April 22, Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection ran high-profile TV ads in which Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi, and then Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson, sat together on couches telling the world of…
Theologian N. T. Wright packs the house
FALLS CHURCH — “I am trying to call people back to the Bible they didn't know they had,” declared British theologian N.T. Wright during a lecture sponsored by the John Leland Center for Theological Studies. Braving rush hour traffic in…
Expelled
I was disappointed that your April 17 issue contained a large ad for the movie Expelled. Although it is not improper to accept such advertising, I would like to inform your readers that many careful analyses have shown this presentation…
Bluefield students examine Holocaust
BLUEFIELD — Bluefield College involved its students, faculty and staff, other scholars and the community at-large in a powerful and serious look back at one of the most significant events in world history — the Holocaust — during a month-long…