NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) – Richard Land, the Southern Baptist Convention’s top spokesman on moral concerns, says the Penn State sexual abuse scandal is symptomatic of a larger “anti-child culture” in the United States, and that churches are not immune. During…
Panel: Churches need to take lead in race relations
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ABP) — Churches too often have trailed society at large in terms of embracing racial and ethnic diversity, a multiethnic panel told a regional New Baptist Covenant II gathering in San Antonio. “I believe what we see on…
OKC New Baptist Covenant takes aim at payday lending
OKLAHOMA CITY (ABP) — Payday lending traps many of America’s working poor in a vortex of debt, participants at the New Baptist Covenant II satellite meeting in Oklahoma City learned. Each New Baptist Covenant facility focused on a mission project,…
Jimmy Carter notes progress in building Baptist unity
ATLANTA (ABP) – Former President Jimmy Carter told veteran journalist Bob Abernethy that he’s seen progress in areas that prompted him to convene a New Baptist Covenant gathering in 2008 and New Baptist Covenant II gatherings scattered across nine locations…
New Baptist Covenant speakers proclaim ‘release’ to captives
ATLANTA (ABP) – Baptists must view prison ministry as more than prayer meetings and Bible studies if they are to follow Jesus’ Luke 4 mandate to “proclaim liberty to the captives,” former Arkansas Appeals Court Justice and Baptist pastor Wendell…
Diverse Baptists gather around shared concerns
ATLANTA (ABP) – Baptists laid aside differences of race, geography and tradition to affirm common values of care for the poor and marginalized in Atlanta and satellite locations across the United States Nov. 17. Jimmy Carter gives formal welcome at…
International social work program gets major gift
WACO, Texas (ABP) – Baylor University’s School of Social Work has received a $3.6 million gift for a program for international students pursuing a master’s degree in social work. First funded by a grant in 2008, the Global Mission Leadership…
BWA leaders call African Baptists to ‘justice and deeds of mercy’
LAGOS, Nigeria (ABP) — Baptists should engage in deeds of mercy and address justice issues and not merely verbally proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, two Baptist World Alliance staff members told Baptist leaders in Africa Nov. 15. BWA general…
Letter opposing Christian Zionism sparks Israel debate
PASADENA, Calif. (ABP) – Evangelical supporters of Israel fired back at a September open letter by two Baptist ethicists questioning theological and moral grounds of “Christian Zionism.” David Gushee, a Mercer University professor and columnist for Associated Baptist Press, and…