WASHINGTON (RNS) — Patrick Conroy was sworn in May 25 as House chaplain, making him the first Jesuit – and only the second Catholic — to hold the position, and the first candidate forced to navigate around the Catholic Church’s…
Texas Baptist board calls for renegotiated agreement with Baylor
DALLAS (ABP) — The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board voted to take steps to renegotiate the relationship agreement between the state convention and Baylor University. At its May 24 meeting in Dallas, the board directed Associate Executive Director…
Baptists help Myanmar quake victims after learning of collapsed church
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — Several Baptist groups are pooling resources for aid after receiving news that a Baptist church in Myanmar collapsed during a March earthquake, killing 24 and injuring 57. According to the Myanmar Times, about 200 people…
OPINION: An opportunity to work together
Bill Webb It is about 4 p.m. on Monday, May 23. Updates have been trickling in all day after a tornado clawed through the south side of Joplin less than 24 hours earlier, leaving a death toll of at least…
Chainsaw units, chaplains activated as Baptists respond to Joplin tornado
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — As disaster relief volunteers prepare to assist in Joplin, Mo., in the aftermath of Sunday's devastating tornado, other Baptists in Missouri can assist through donations, particularly of funds for supplies. (See related story here.) The tornado,…
Unlikely allies weave myth of Christian America, historian says
DALLAS — A seemingly unlikely alliance between conservative Christian evangelicals and Mormons recasts American history as the founding of a distinctively Christian republic, Stephen Stookey told a gathering of Baptist church historians. Self-styled historian David Barton and conservative provocateur Glenn…
Historical Society celebrates Baptists’ ‘singing faith’ with hymn festival
RICHMOND, Va. — It’s said that the Reformer Martin Luther once stood in his pulpit on a Sunday morning, held aloft a Bible and told his congregation, “This is the gospel.” Then raising a hymnal in his other hand, he…
Two Intermont graduates bound for international riding competitions
BRISTOL, Va. — Fresh from this May’s graduation, Virginia Intermont College’s Kate McManis and Jordan Shelburne are bound for international riding competition. Both were members of the Baptist-affiliated school’s national champion competitive riding teams and now will represent the United…
Three die at Joplin, Mo., church hit by tornado that tears across Midwest
JOPLIN, Mo. (ABP) — At least two Missouri Baptist churches are among the scores of institutions, businesses and homes destroyed when one of 68 reported tornadoes that swept across the Midwest on Sunday struck Joplin. (See related story here.) News…