DALLAS (ABP) — A Florida pastor announced June 1 that he will nominate Frank Page as an alternative candidate for the Southern Baptist Convention presidency during the denomination's upcoming annual meeting. Forrest Pollock, pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in…
CBF general assembly to answer Vestal’s challenge for social justice
ATLANTA (ABP) — This year's general assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship promises to answer the challenge Coordinator Daniel Vestal gave at last year's meeting — a challenge to face head-on the issues of poverty, social justice, diversity and mercy….
Mercer Press to begin filling gap in kids’ Sunday school literature
MACON, Ga. (ABP) — In an attempt to meet needs and re-connect with its Baptist constituency, the publishing arm of Mercer University will begin offering children's Sunday school literature this fall. The move, according to Mercer University Press officials, is…
Suspect arrested after fire destroys church buildings in rural Kentucky
OLNEY, Ky. (ABP) — Lafayette Baptist Church, a rural Kentucky congregation that dates back to the late 1800s, lost its church facility in an apparent arson attack May 20. The fire, reportedly set early Saturday morning, was not discovered until…
Baptist groups send workers, supplies, funds to help victims of Java quake
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (ABP) — Several Baptist groups have joined the worldwide outpouring of support for victims of a deadly 6.3-magnitude earthquake, which killed more than 5,700 people May 27. More than 200,000 people remain homeless, according to the Indonesian government….
Ex-IMB missionaries find funding, return to Brazilian mission field
DALLAS (ABP) — Don and Angie Finley, Southern Baptist missionaries since 1988, resigned from their post in Brazil in July 2003 and returned to the United States rather than affirm the denomination's new, more conservative doctrinal statement. Now — three…
Rob Nash, nominee to lead CBF missions, to speak at ABP banquet in Atlanta
ATLANTA (ABP) — Rob Nash, nominee for global missions coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, will be the speaker at the annual Associated Baptist Press banquet June 22 at 5 p.m. in Atlanta. Nash is expected to be elected to…
Couples married for 50-plus years offer advice in church celebration
HOUSTON (ABP) — It not only takes a village to raise a child; it takes a village to make marriage successful, some long-married Baptist couples said. Members of Houston's Tallowood Baptist Church agreed, and they recently honored 139 couples from…
Pastoral counseling a vital part of wedding plans, pastors say
ATHENS, Texas (ABP) — Like many pastors nationwide, Kyle Henderson finds great fulfillment in conducting weddings and preparing couples for marriage. And he treasures thank-you notes he receives from couples — particularly the ones he refused to marry. The wedding…
Texas law professor assigned to Rio Grande church-start probe
HOUSTON (ABP) — The Baptist General Convention of Texas has engaged Brownsville attorney Diane Dillard to investigate alleged mishandling of church-starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley. Suspicions involve church starts in the lower Rio Grande Valley from 1996 to…
Fashion, faith promote success for down-and-out women
ALBERTVILLE, Ala. (ABP) — For Jean Cullen, the national coordinator of the Christian Women's Job Corps, success starts on the inside — and must be reflected on the outside as well. Cullen, who heads the national organization aimed at teaching…
Beefed-up NC policy would oust churches that tolerate gay members
ASHEBORO, N.C. (ABP) — Leaders of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention have beefed up a policy designed to oust local churches that affirm homosexuality or even tolerate gay church members. Meeting in Asheboro, N.C., the convention's executive committee and…