CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) — The Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America applauded a recent order by President Obama permitting gays to visit their domestic partners in the hospital with a statement commemorating the 15th anniversary of a controversial move that…
Missouri Baptist Convention releases newspaper from lawsuit
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP) — Attorneys for the Missouri Baptist Convention have voluntarily released the organization's former official news journal from a long-running lawsuit against several agencies that removed themselves from convention control. Word & Way, the historic Missouri Baptist…
Cecil Sherman ‘stood on a higher hill’
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (ABP) — A self-described "comrade in arms" in the Southern Baptist Convention controversy in the 1980s remembered Cecil Sherman as one who "stood on a higher hill" than other moderate Baptist leaders. "Cecil Sherman was right more times…
Cecil Sherman ‘stood on a higher hill’ than his contemporaries, speaker says
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (ABP) — A self-described “comrade in arms” in the Southern Baptist Convention controversy in the 1980s remembered Cecil Sherman as one who “stood on a higher hill” than other moderate Baptist leaders. “Cecil Sherman was right more times…
Churches try varied ways to approach question of membership and baptism
RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — Baptism and local church membership have been inextricably linked historically in the minds of many Baptists. But that view is shifting as a decline in denominational loyalty and the easy movement of American Christians among churches…
What happens when Baptists cannot agree about baptism?
DALLAS (ABP) — If Baptists — in all their diversity — cannot agree on baptism, some theologians wonder what is left to unite them. "Other denominations certainly have tended to see it (believer’s baptism by immersion) as what set Baptists…
Obama administration to appeal ruling against National Day of Prayer
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The U.S. Justice Department announced April 22 it would appeal a federal court ruling that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. White House attorneys filed a notice of appeal in U.S. District Court for western Wisconsin challenging…
Ky. high court strikes down public funding of Baptist pharmacy school
FRANKFORT, Ky. (ABP) — The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled April 22 that Baptist-affiliated University of the Cumberlands cannot use $10 million of taxpayer money to build a pharmacy school. The high court said the funds, appropriated by the Kentucky General…
Hundreds gather to remember Cecil Sherman
RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — Friends and family members of Cecil Sherman filled the spacious sanctuary of River Road Church, Baptist, in Richmond, Va., April 20 to celebrate his life in the first of two scheduled memorial services. “We seem to…
Soulforce Q visit to SBU described as ‘gentle,’ ‘spiritually violent’
BOLIVAR, Mo. (ABP) — Characterizations of the Soulforce Q Equality Ride stop at Southwest Baptist University April 14 ranged from “gentle” to “spiritually violent,” depending upon the person asked. Most years since 2006, Soulforce Q, the young adult division of Soulforce,…
Obama visit could interrupt traffic to Cecil Sherman’s funeral
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (ABP) – Persons traveling to attend Friday’s memorial service in Asheville, N.C., for former Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Coordinator Cecil Sherman are advised to anticipate travel delays due to an unexpected visit to the city by President Obama. Guy…
Memorial services for Cecil Sherman to be webcast
ATLANTA (ABP) – Two memorial services for Cecil Sherman, founding coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, who died April 17 after suffering a massive heart attack, will be webcast live this week. Services scheduled Tuesday, April 20, at River Road…