WASHINGTON (ABP) — One of the most prominent historians of American evangelicalism called on “true Baptists” June 29 to re-assert their prophetic role “as watchmen on the wall of separation between church and state.” Randall Ballmer, a history professor at…
CBF event: American Baptists, new moderator, U.N. development goals
WASHINGTON (ABP) — More than 2,500 Baptists gathered June 28-29 for the annual Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Washington. For the first time, it featured a joint gathering with the American Baptist Churches USA. The service in Washington's convention center marked…
Gospel music from Baptists pulls big crowds in Japan
TOKYO (ABP) — Thanks to a Japanese fascination with gospel music — inspired in part by the Sister Act movies — churches in the United States have started offering gospel concerts and classes in Japan as ways to reach others….
Opinion: ‘Historical amnesia’ and the Christian creeds
Professor Walter Shurden has commented recently on the diverse dangers arising for what he terms the “historical amnesia” of the Baptist people. Foremost among these dangers he places the movement “from a Christ-centered to a creed-centered faith.” The substitution of…
Correction
In the June 26th ABP story, “Southern Baptists in California create competing state convention,” please replace the first sentence of the 8th paragraph with the following: Wilson said 25 percent of the money contributed by his congregation to denominational missions…
Truett’s famed religious liberty sermon recreated at D.C. event
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Eighty-seven years after George Truett thundered a call for separation of church and state to more than 10,000 Southern Baptists gathered in the nation's capital, a smaller but more diverse group of Baptists paid tribute to the…
CBF moderator McCall says God’s covenant gives Christians responsibility
WASHINGTON (ABP) — God's covenant with Christians “places the responsibility for being the presence of Christ squarely on our shoulders,” Emmanuel McCall told participants at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship general assembly June 28. God is a covenant-keeping God, insisted McCall,…
Baptist sex-traffic mission worker urges others to ‘show up’ for ministry
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The key to ministry in Jesus' name — even in difficult and dangerous places — is to “show up,” Lauran Bethell told participants in the William H. Whitsitt Baptist Heritage Society annual meeting. Bethell, an American Baptist…
CBF panelists urge Baptists to see ‘humanity’ of AIDS crisis
WASHINGTON (ABP) — AIDS asks one question: Are you human? That's what Genie Hargrove told participants in a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship panel discussion on HIV/AIDS. Churches must see the humanity behind the crisis, she said. Hargrove, pastor of Beulah Baptist…
At Washington rally, Christians join libertarians in protesting torture
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Thousand of Christians and other activists withstood Washington's oppressive summer heat June 26 to rally against torture, indefinite imprisonment and other tactics the United States has used in the war against terrorism. “Jesus not only commanded but…
Women in ministry report highlights progress, obstacles simultaneously
WASHINGTON (ABP) — While moderate and progressive Baptists continue to grow in their theoretical support for women as pastors, their churches remain far behind in practice. That's one conclusion from the second annual “State of Women in Baptist Life” report,…
Author, at ‘post-partisan’ event, says churches must develop pluralism
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Sharing, responsibility and teamwork figured prominently into Eboo Patel's speech June 27 at the New American Foundation. Patel, executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core, wasn't teaching proper playground etiquette; he was discussing the importance of establishing…