WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Senate's Republican leadership has scheduled a mid-July vote on a proposed amendment to ban gay marriage nationwide, despite objections by Democratic lawmakers. A group of senators announced June 18 that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.)…
Southern Baptists leave BWA, cheer Bush, confront social issues, vote to keep SBC name
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Southern Baptists broke ties with their global brethren in the Baptist World Alliance, marshaled support for a familiar list of social issues, and voted to keep the Southern Baptist Convention name, despite suggestions it has become a…
Disabled seminary student’s plans for overseas missions put on hold
— EDITOR'S NOTE: This updates a story issued June 2. WACO, Texas, (ABP) — A Truett Theological Seminary student who envisioned serving as a missions volunteer in India this summer to aid other physically disabled people has seen her dream…
Southern Baptists vote not to study name change
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Southern Baptists will remain Southern Baptists. After a lively debate during the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting, messengers voted 55 percent to 45 percent (1,731 to 1,391) against forming a committee to study changing the convention's name….
Bush touts conservative agenda in live video address to SBC
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — President Bush promised messengers at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting he would “defend the sanctity of marriage against activist courts.” Bush's June 15 live address via satellite marked the third straight year he has spoken to…
Welch wins contested SBC presidency, prescribes evangelism for SBC decline
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Florida pastor Bobby Welch won the first contested Southern Baptist Convention presidential election in a decade June 15, then directed his characteristic zeal for evangelism toward reversing the SBC's numerical decline. Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church…
SBC asks New Orleans Seminary to accept charter change over president’s objections
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting voted by a 2-1 margin to “respectfully request” that trustees of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary amend the school's charter, naming the Southern Baptist Convention as the seminary's “sole…
Resolutions urge Southern Baptists to confront secularization but not to abandon public schools
— EDITOR'S NOTE: This story updates and corrects the June 16 ABP story “Southern Baptists vote down anti-public-school resolution.” INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Southern Baptists adopted resolutions June 16 lamenting America's “cultural drift … toward secularization” and urging Christians to engage…
Benefactor calls for open forum on Sloan’s leadership of Baylor
WACO, Texas, (ABP) — After a year of controversy at the world's largest Baptist university, John Baugh, one of Baylor University's biggest benefactors, wrote a letter June 3 to the Baylor Board of Regents criticizing President Robert Sloan's leadership and…
Winning speaker urges ‘just trust’ at Bible drill competition
SAN ANTONIO (ABP) — “Just trust” is a simple message, but it's one that Emily Burkhead lives by daily. Burkhead, an 18-year-old member of First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Texas, won the top prize in the speaker part of the…
Southern Baptists vote down anti-public-school resolution
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Southern Baptists adopted resolutions June 16 lamenting America's “cultural drift…toward secularization” and urging Christians to vote according to “biblical values,” but they stopped short of calling for a full-scale withdrawal from public schools. The 8,500 messengers attending…
Conservatives considered dividing seminaries with SBC moderates, Patterson recalls
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — During the heart of the Southern Baptist controversy, conservatives considered a proposal to split the six Southern Baptist Convention seminaries with moderates, according to one prominent SBC leader. Paige Patterson, an architect of what supporters call the…