Jim Baucom Although many pastors would be content if their churches met in three different congregations with 14 separate services using seven different languages, Jim Baucom, pastor of Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, challenged the church leaders to “take…
FIRST PERSON: The price of coffee
Cindy Fisher FALLS CHURCH—“$2.19,” the cashier says after I place my order for a small iced coffee. I’m tempted to order an iced latte instead, but that would bump up the price by a dollar. I choose to stick with…
$10.1 million gift accelerates barracks building at FUMA
FORK UNION—Fork Union Military Academy has received a gift of $10.1 million, allowing the Virginia Baptist-affiliated school to begin construction on a new barracks facility—a project initiated three years ago. The donors are Jerry and Laura Jacobson of Sugarcreek, Ohio,…
Virginia Baptist Foundation awards grants to six ministries
RICHMOND—The Virginia Baptist Foundation has awarded grants totaling $40,000 to six Virginia Baptist ministry partners according to Ronald C. Hall, president and CEO of the foundation. “We are able to award these dollars due to the Christian stewardship of others,”…
Baptists gather in Rome for peace conference
ROME (ABP) — Baptists active in non-violent struggles for justice convened Feb. 9-14 in Italy for a conference aimed at strengthening the Baptist peacemaking witness around the world. Between 300 and 400 Christians, many from troubled and war-torn regions who…
FCC to churches: Don’t throw out your wireless mics — yet
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Churches: Don't throw out your wireless microphones — yet. With the shift of the nation's broadcast communications from analog to digital, early indications were that wireless microphones might become outdated or even illegal. A Federal Communications Commission…
SBC Executive Committee postpones vote on membership of Texas church
Lyn Robbins, left, discusses action with Stephen Wilson, chair of the Executive Committee's bylaws work group. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has asked a Texas church to clarify its views on homosexuality before determining whether…
Arkansas House passes bill allowing guns in church
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (ABP) — The Arkansas House of Representatives approved a bill Feb. 11 that would allow people with concealed-weapon permits to bring their gun to church. The bill, approved by the House by a vote of 57-42, now…
Baptist, Orthodox leaders hold groundbreaking conference in Europe
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (ABP) — European Baptist and Orthodox scholars convened Feb. 8-11 in talks aimed to promote understanding between two Christian groups often at odds over issues like proselytizing and the separation of church and state. The International Baptist…
SECOND OPINION: Don’t fiddle with Jefferson’s statute
Stephen Strehle is way off base in his Dec. 18 Religious Herald essay calling for the repeal of Thomas Jefferson's Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and substituting a new one. The U. S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights were…
OUT LOUD
“The Vatican's model for the papacy is still the absolute monarchies and royal courts of the past. That model simply will not work today.” Tom Reese The professor at the Woodstock Theological Center was commenting on the Pope's handling of…
Obama’s anti-torture directives place activists in good news/bad news posture
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Religious opponents of torture expressed simultaneous approval and concern about a series of executive orders by President Obama upending his predecessor's policies on detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects. On his second full day in office, Obama…