NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS)—Andrew Hamblin’s Facebook page is filled with snippets of his life. Making a late-night run to Taco Bell. Watching SpongeBob on the couch with his kids. Handling rattlesnakes in church. Hamblin, 21, pastor of Tabernacle Church of God…
Interreligious dialogue is nothing new, but ministers and others are changing the way they do it
Interfaith dialogue is on the rise, not just in formal conversations led by judicatory leaders but in local communities where friendships forge as ministers of various faiths work together for common goals amid increasing religious diversity in the Bible belt….
BGAV annual available as a download
RICHMOND, Va.—The 2011 Baptist General Association of Virginia Annual—a compilation of statistics and data—is available this year as a download rather than a CD, the BGAV’s communcations office has announced. The download can be accessed at www.vbmb.org/annual. “We continue to…
TRENDING: The stuck and broken?
Recently, I was part of a conversation with 10 pastors discussing discipleship. All agreed that their churches were producing exactly what they were engineered to produce: attenders. There’s nothing wrong with attending church. You just can’t say attending church automatically…
Potential first African-American president says SBC shouldn’t be defined by race
NEW ORLEANS (RNS)—The Southern Baptist Convention began in 1845 in support of slaveholders and is now poised to elect its first African-American president, Fred Luter Jr., in June. “It’s a new day in the [SBC],” Luter told the PBS program…
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Former Herald editor Julian Pentecost dies at 88
RICHMOND, Va.—Julian H. Pentecost, editor of the Religious Herald during one of the most tumultuous periods of Baptist history in the American South, died May 31. He was 88. Pentecost was editor of the Herald in 1980s, a decade of…
Young leaders embrace Baptist identity of freedom
RICHMOND, Va. — Freedom. For six younger Baptist leaders that is the most compelling characteristic of Baptist identity. These two women and four men participated in a panel discussion organized by the Center for Baptist Heritage & Studies and held…
North Carolina network has eyes to see region’s poor
ROANOKE RAPIDS, N.C. — The demographics of Halifax County, N.C., are appalling. Unemployment is above 13 percent and one resident in four earns income below the poverty line. The county is part of the fourth poorest congressional district in the…
BTSR grants first honorary doctorates
RICHMOND, Va. — Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond granted its first honorary doctorates May 26 during an annual commencement ceremony in which 22 graduates also received degrees. BTSR president Ron Crawford (left) congratulates Elmer West, recipient of the honorary doctor…
Pakistanis’ life terms for ‘blasphemy’ dropped
LAHORE, Pakistan (BP) — A court has acquitted a Christian couple of blasphemy charges, overturning their life sentences. The couple's lawyer, Chaudhry Naeem Shakir, told Compass Direct News that Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi of the Lahore High Court accepted…
Christian women differ in understanding how to fulfill God’s will at home and church
Theologians continue to debate interpretations of gender roles in the home and church. But how do women live out their understanding of God's will? Four individuals share how God directed them to either an egalitarian or complementarian view and how…