MONTREAT, N.C. (RNS) — President Obama and ailing evangelist Billy Graham exchanged prayers during their first meeting recently at Graham’s home in western North Carolina. President Obama meets with evangelist Billy Graham at his house in Montreat, N.C. (RNS/Pete Souza/The…
RIGHT or WRONG? Prayer for small decisions
All my life, I’ve heard about the importance of praying when we must make a major decision. But what about small decisions? Just how should we pray and recognize God’s responses to our decisions? A family member or friend goes…
Vestal confident in future as CBF emerges from its adolescence
MARION, N.C. (ABP) — With the death of founding coordinator Cecil Sherman and the approaching 20th anniversary of its birth, the national Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is reaching a point where its viability into the future will either be cemented or…
British Baptists take aim at nuclear weapons, hear of budget deficit in meeting
PLYMOUTH, England (ABP) — From the port city that launched the Pilgrims on their journey to what would become the United States, British Baptists took aim May 3 at those in America, their own United Kingdom or elsewhere who would…
Task force report urges SBC to free IMB to work in North America
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force will ask the Southern Baptist Convention to give its International Mission Board freedom to evangelize unreached people groups on what had been the exclusive turf of the North American Mission Board….
CBF leaders, partner group executives focus on organizations’ future
PINE MOUNTAIN, Ga. (ABP) — Chief executives of more than 20 organizations affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship joined CBF national and state leaders and other invitees April 27-29 at a retreat center in southwest Georgia to imagine a future…
Independent panel criticizes Obama, Bush, Clinton on religious freedom
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A bipartisan federal panel charged with monitoring religious-freedom questions worldwide blasted current and past administrations — Republican and Democratic alike — April 29 for under-emphasizing religious liberty in foreign policy. In releasing its annual report, the independent…
Want to pack heat in worship? In Louisiana, you soon may get to
BATON ROUGE, La. (RNS) — People qualified to carry concealed weapons should be able to keep them strapped on in a church or temple as a way to enhance security, a state House committee decided April 28. The House Committee…
Baptist scholars view Noah’s Ark discovery claims with skepticism
LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABP) — As the newest reported discovery of Noah's Ark raised doubts even among fellow Ark-hunters, two Baptist seminary professors said Christians should not rest their faith on whether remains of an ancient vessel are ever found high…
Virginia governor lifts ban on police chaplains’ sectarian prayers
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has lifted a two-year-old ban on sectarian prayers –including those referring to Jesus Christ — led by Virginia State Police chaplains at department-sanctioned public events. The recently-elected Republican governor instructed state police superintendent…
Glenn Beck, Paige Patterson to speak at Liberty’s commencement
LYNCHBURG, Va. — Two prominent conservative voices in the nation’s culture wars — Fox News commentator Glenn Beck and seminary president Paige Patterson — will speak at Liberty University’s commencement exercises May 15, the school has announced. Chancellor Jerry Falwell…
Book urges Christians to go green for God
DULUTH, Ga. (ABP) — Jonathan Merritt says he was both disappointed and pleasantly surprised by the response he received after organizing several hundred Southern Baptists in 2008 to issue a statement identifying the environment and climate change as moral issues….