DALLAS (ABP) — Ron Gunter, chief operating officer for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, has resigned. His Oct. 18 announcement came two days after Carolyn Porterfield announced her resignation as executive director-treasurer of the Woman's Missionary Union of Texas….
GOP candidates try to woo ‘values voters’ at meeting
WASHINGTON (ABP) — About 2,000 of America's “values voters,” described by some as a disgruntled constituency, gathered in Washington, D.C., Oct. 19 to be wooed by the Republican presidential candidates. The three-day event came the same day Kansas Sen. Sam…
Values Voters Summit: Land, Wallis debate how faith influences politics
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Jim Wallis and Richard Land agree that faith should influence public policy. They just can't agree on how. The two evangelical leaders — one conservative, one progressive — locked horns in an Oct. 19 debate at the…
‘Values voters’ prefer Romney, Huckabee; Giuliani finishes disappointing 8th
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Voters in an Oct. 20 straw poll seemed to confirm what many pundits have said all along: Conservative Christians simply will not support a presidential candidate who backs abortion rights. In the second-largest straw poll of this…
Vestal: New collaboration shows ‘reconstruction of Baptist family’
DECATUR, Ga. (ABP) — The Baptist “family” is undergoing “something of a reconstruction” these days, according to Daniel Vestal, executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. After decades of infighting within and isolation between various Baptist denominations, an unprecedented opportunity…
Baptist World Alliance welcomes peace letter from Muslim scholars
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A letter asking for peace between Muslims and Christians received a warm welcome from leaders of the Baptist World Alliance Oct. 17. Signed by more than 130 Muslim scholars, theologians and clerics, the 29-page tome asked for…
Evangelicals are moving into power, authors say, but ends can be unclear
WASHINGTON (ABP) — There's no question that in the last few decades evangelical Christians have asserted their growing power in America's public life. The question, according to two new books, is: By what methods, and to what end? Former Washington…
Yale panel: Separation of church and state misunderstood by many
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (ABP) — The separation of church and state is part of what makes America great — and America is plagued by “total ignorance” about what it means, according to panelists at a Yale Divinity School event. However,…
Stained-glass windows bathe sacred spaces in light, tell stories of faith
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — If every picture tells a story, the stained-glass windows of Broadway Baptist Church tell tales of grace, sacrifice and love. While the Forth Worth, Texas, church has rested on the same piece of property since…
Spirituality in architecture gets boost from revival of arts
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — “Any building completely devoid of art is devoid of spirituality,” says architect Larry Cook. The Virginian is one of a growing number of architects who welcome the return of symbolism and spirituality to church buildings….
Church building is ‘God’s calling card;’ architecture determines the message
AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) — If your sanctuary could speak, what would it say? The truth is, it does speak — every day. Whether a towering neo-Gothic steeple that knifes the suburban sky or a one-room clapboard chapel nestled in the…
Midwestern Seminary board meeting ends without action against Roberts
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (ABP) — Despite a public conflict with the chairman of his trustees, the president of a Southern Baptist seminary managed to escape a board meeting Oct. 16. According to a press release from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary,…