OSNELL, Ark. (ABP) – A Southern Baptist evangelist, and former camp pastor at LifeWay Christian Resources’ FUGE summer youth events, has been charged with video voyeurism in a home where he was staying as a house guest while preaching a…
Book details rise of independent churches
DURHAM, N.C. (ABP) – About one in five Protestant churches in America is now independent of any denomination, and about one in five Protestants attends those independent churches, Duke sociologist Mark Chaves says in his new book American Religion: Contemporary…
Shorter University adds new faith statements
ROME, Ga. (ABP) – Shorter University has adopted a new faith statement that affirms biblical inerrancy and is requiring faculty and staff to sign a pledge rejecting homosexuality. A new mandatory “personal lifestyle statement” asks employees to agree to “be…
Mississippi Baptists back ‘Personhood Amendment’
JACKSON, Miss. (ABP) – The Mississippi Baptist Convention is backing a constitutional amendment facing voters Nov. 8 that would declare a fertilized human egg to be a person, effectively branding abortion as murder. The state convention’s Christian Action Commission endorsed…
CBF finishes fiscal year 15 percent behind budget
ATLANTA (ABP) – The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship ended its fiscal year $2.1 million short of its 2010-2011 budget goal of $14.5 million in total revenues, controller Larry Hurst reported to the CBF Coordinating Council Oct. 21. Anticipating a shortfall, Hurst…
Texas pastors weigh in on Rob Bell controversy
AMARILLO, Texas (ABP) — Two Texas Baptist pastors weighed in on controversy over Rob Bell’s recent book questioning the traditional view of hell in a training session during the Oct. 24-26 annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas….
Church-state expert said minorities face biggest threats to religious liberty
WASHINGTON (ABP) – An advocate for the separation of church and state told a House panel Oct. 26 that what some Americans regard as imminent threats to religious liberty are in fact attempts to maintain a favored status for the…
Church deemed too Calvinist for Kentucky Baptist association
OWENSBORO, Ky. (ABP) – A Kentucky Baptist association denied membership to a church after a credentials committee found its confessional statement too Calvinistic, according to a report in the Western Recorder. Daviess-McLean Baptist Association voted 104-9 to deny membership to…
BWA officials to join global religious leaders for day of prayer for peace
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP — Two top officials of the Baptist World Alliance will join about 300 other religious leaders from around the world in Assisi, Italy, Oct. 27 for a Day of Reflection, Dialogue and Prayer for Peace and Justice…