DALLAS (ABP) — Texas Baptist volunteers have been some of the first responders among faith-based disaster-relief workers over the last three decades. But the Texas Baptists who recently returned from Iran were glad an Alabama group had paved the way…
College students more spiritual than courses reflect, study says
LOS ANGELES (ABP) — Most American college students are more interested in discussing spiritual matters than are their professors, preliminary results from a massive nationwide study suggest. Late last year, researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles' Higher…
CBF partner-study committee setting scope of task
ATLANTA (ABP) — A seven-member committee studying the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's funding of ministry partners is making progress in establishing the scope of its work, according to the chair. The committee met Jan. 8-9 in Atlanta and will next reconvene…
Mexican Baptists use lay training to spur church-planting boom
MATAMOROS, Mexico — Baptists in Mexico started about 800 churches in the past year, which leaders hope will help trigger a “spiritual revolution” in Mexico and beyond. The new-church total is impressive because it almost doubles the previous number of…
N.C. moderates discuss options, but most staying put for now
GREENSBORO, N.C. (ABP) — Moderate Baptists in North Carolina began Jan. 23 what they admit could be a slow and messy process of rethinking their participation in the traditional state convention, which some say no longer represents them. “The days…
North Carolina CBF coordinator to step down amid changes
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (ABP) — Bob Patterson, coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina, has announced plans to step down “sometime during 2004.” Patterson, hired in February 1999 as the state organization's first coordinator, made the announcement Jan. 20…
Senators approve DC vouchers; opponents vow legal responses
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Senate gave final approval Jan. 22 to a bill that includes the nation's first federally funded school-voucher program. Senators voted 65-28 to approve the massive appropriations package, which comes four months late and includes funding for…
Bush touts faith, charity, abstinence in third State of the Union address
WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Bush delivered a confident and combative State of the Union address Jan. 20 that included calls for Congress to expand the government's ability to fund social services through churches and an appeal for more abstinence-based sex…
Filibuster continues on bill containing DC vouchers
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Disputes over several issues Jan. 20 stalled final passage of a massive appropriations package that includes what would become the nation's first federally funded school-voucher program. However, most observers said the bill will probably pass within the…