RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — Conflicting reports about the vote totals for a new International Mission Board policy on speaking in tongues are focusing public attention on what may be a deeper disagreement about the agency's leadership. Associated Baptist Press reported,…
Conservative columnist elected editor of Louisiana Baptist paper
ALEXANDRIA, La. (ABP) –Trustees of the Baptist Message of Louisiana, who last month were rebuffed in an effort to dissolve their independent board, unanimously elected conservative Oregon pastor Kelly Boggs as editor. Boggs, 45, pastor of Valley Baptist Church in…
Louisiana College probation lifted after controversial policies reversed
PINEVILLE, La. (ABP) — Louisiana College will remain fully accredited, school officials learned recently, after the Baptist school rescinded several policies critics said impinged on academic freedom. The Pineville school had been on probation since December 2004 following a visit…
Moncrief, missions pioneer of inner-city, dead at 60
ATLANTA (ABP) — Legendary Southern Baptist home missionary Terry Moncrief died Dec. 7 at his suburban Atlanta home following a year-long battle with brain cancer. Moncrief, 60, was director of Techwood Baptist Center, established to minister in the nation's first…
Women’s ministry brightens Christmas for families of Mexican prisoners
SAN CRISTOBAL, Mexico (ABP) — Christmas 2005 will be a little more hopeful for families of the prisoners accused of the Acteal, Mexico, massacre — thanks to a Baptist woman's ministry. But for the eighth consecutive year, the celebration will…
Addie Davis, first woman ordained as Southern Baptist pastor, dies at 88
COVINGTON, Va. (ABP) — Addie Elizabeth Davis died Dec. 3, in her hometown of Covington, Va., after a brief illness. She was 88. Her ordination to the gospel ministry by Watts Street Baptist Church in Durham, N.C., on Aug. 9,…
Native pastor nominated to lead Baptist Convention of New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (ABP) — Joseph Bunce, 50, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Bloomfield, N.M., is the unanimous choice of a search committee to become the next executive director of the Baptist Convention of New Mexico. A special meeting…
Updated: Execution deadline nears for Baptist, 3 other Christian hostages in Iraq
WASHINGTON (ABP) — As everyone from Jesse Jackson to a radical Muslim cleric pleaded Dec. 7 for mercy, abductors holding a British Baptist and three Christian peace activists hostage in Iraq reportedly extended the deadline for their demands to be…
Updated: N.C. moderates ponder alternatives to support colleges, agencies
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) – Some moderate Baptists in North Carolina are talking seriously about alternative ways to support the state's Baptist colleges and institutions, a move that could divert millions in contributions from the conservative-controlled Baptist State Convention of North…
‘Lion, Witch and Wardrobe’ carries message for those who want to see it
(ABP) — Lights! Camera! Allegory? Whether viewers find a distinctly Christian message in the new movie “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” depends on whether they found one in the C.S. Lewis fantasy novel it's…
Defenders call for support of evangelicals convicted of 1997 Mexican massacre
SAN CRISTOBAL, Mexico (ABP) — Sixteen men, mostly evangelical Christians, implicated in the 1997 Acteal massacre in southern Mexico now face 36 years in prison after their final appeal was denied by a three-judge panel Nov. 30. Sergio Nafare, defense…
Arkansas college president leads field of candidates at Samford University
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Andrew Westmoreland, president of Arkansas Baptists' Ouachita Baptist University, is the leading candidate to become president of Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. Westmoreland visited the Samford campus Dec. 6 to meet with three constituent panels —…