RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — The International Mission Board has set up a toll-free telephone line for missionaries and their families to report incidents of sexual abuse. The Southern Baptist agency, which has 5,600 active missionaries, has sent the phone number…
Philanthropist Paul Piper dead at 86
APOLLO BEACH, Fla. (ABP) — Longtime philanthropist Paul Piper Sr., whose generosity provided funds for education and research to many organizations, including Baptist ones, died Jan 17 in Apollo Beach, Fla. He was 86. A self-made businessman, the Tennessee native…
Women’s group affirms BWA despite planned SBC withdrawal
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Woman's Missionary Union, the women's auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention, came out in support of the Baptist World Alliance Jan. 12, breaking ranks with the Southern Baptist leaders who want to withdraw SBC membership and…
Anonymous donor contributes $2 million to CBF missions
ATLANTA (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has received another anonymous multimillion-dollar contribution for global missions, this one from a member of a Georgia church. Bill Coates, pastor of First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Ga., presented CBF with a check…
Georgia Senate approves amendment enabling state funding of ministries
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Georgia Senate has passed an amendment to the state constitution that would remove barriers to churches, parochial schools and other religious groups receiving taxpayer dollars. The Republican-controlled body voted 40-14 Jan. 15 to approve the proposed…
Daniel Akin elected president at Southeastern Seminary
WAKE FOREST, N.C. (ABP) — Trustees at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary unanimously elected Daniel Akin the school's sixth president Jan. 15. Akin, 47, comes from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., where he was vice president for academic administration…
Bush uses ‘recess appointment’ to put controversial judge on bench
WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Bush used a special presidential prerogative Jan. 16 to get one of his most controversial judicial nominees installed, temporarily, on a federal appeals panel. Just days before Congress returned from its holiday recess to resume its…
New conservative Episcopal group wants to ‘renew Anglicanism’ in U.S.
PLANO, Texas (ABP) — Leaders of an independent network of conservative Episcopal churches met Jan. 19 to firm up plans that one leader said will “renew Anglicanism in this part of the world.” Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, a leading…
Minnesota man wants church donation back
CLOQUET, Minn. (ABP) — A 55-year-old Minnesota man is suing a local church because it won't give back a $126,000 donation he made five years ago. Marcel Mager of Cloquet, Minn., said he made the anonymous donation, nearly all his…