AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) — A bespectacled teenaged wizard with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead might not look like an image of Christ to most people, but evangelical pop-culture observer Greg Garrett sees similarities he says are definite. “Harry Potter…
Concert benefits hunger ministry
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — A free concert at a Texas Baptist church turned into a blessing for the city's hungry and homeless. When members of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra approached Broadway Baptist Church about staging a concert as…
Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood unimpressed by new NIV
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — A group that criticized the New International Version Bible translation for introducing a gender-inclusive edition in 2005 says it isn't satisfied by revisions in the latest edition recently available online. The Council for Biblical Manhood and…
Historian Morgan Patterson dies
Editor's note: This story was edited after posting. NOVATO, Calif. (ABP) — Morgan Patterson, a historian who taught at four Southern Baptist seminaries and was president of a Baptist college, died Nov. 19 at age 85 at his home in…
Hunger report praises federal program
WASHINGTON (ABP) — In the latest edition of its annual report on global food insecurity, a Christian anti-hunger group praised efforts by President Obama’s administration to battle world hunger but warned that cutting food aid due to budget concerns would be short-sighted….
N.C. mega-church pastor retiring
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) — The senior pastor of North Carolina's largest Southern Baptist church announced Nov. 21 he is retiring after 26 years. Joe Brown Joe Brown, 62, told members of Hickory Grove Baptist Church by video that he is…
Texas exec considering pastorate
Randel Everett DALLAS (ABP) — Randel Everett, who has served as executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas for three years, has announced he will preach Dec. 5 at First Baptist Church in Midland, Texas, "in view of…
County, church settle lawsuit over Christian school
BALTIMORE (ABP) — A Maryland county will pay a Baptist church $3.25 million and allow construction of a Christian school that government officials have opposed for eight years under terms of a settlement reached Nov. 18 in federal court. An…
NAMB executive to become editor of Ark. Baptist paper
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (ABP) — Directors of Arkansas Baptists’ newspaper have elected a Southern Baptist North American Mission Board official as the publication’s new editor. Tim Yarbrough The board of the Arkansas Baptist News, meeting Nov. 18 at the Baptist…
End-times theology harmful, Arab Christian says
KELLER, Texas (ABP) — Theology that equates the modern state of Israel with the Israel of biblical prophecy has caused some evangelical Christians to let eschatology trump ethics when it comes to the Middle East, a Palestinian-American Christian told a…
Burmese Baptist church ordered to halt worship services
SANTA ANA, Calif. (ABP) — A local government in Myanmar ordered a Baptist church to cease worship services after the pastor refused to wear an election campaign T-shirt supporting the country's ruling military junta, Compass Direct News reported Nov. 18….
Baptist editor in Oklahoma resigns
OKLAHOMA CITY (ABP) — Doug Baker, the editor of Oklahoma Baptists' news journal, has resigned after slightly more than 15 months on the job. Doug Baker Ron Fannin, senior associate executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, said…