AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) — Despite vocal protests, the Texas State Board of Education voted May 21 to approve social-studies-curriculum standards that urge high-school students to examine church-state separation critically — a move that may affect textbooks nationwide. A motion to…
Former pastor, NAMB trustee, accused of fleecing flock
ST. LOUIS (ABP) — A former Southern Baptist pastor in Missouri has been indicted on charges of using his position to defraud church members into loaning him money that he did not repay. Danny O'Guin According to St. Louis media,…
Welcoming people with special needs can mean spiritual, numerical growth
Special-needs ministry is a two-way street for churches. NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (ABP) — Churches that do a good job of including members with special needs like autism often reap side benefits of a positive witness to their community and sometimes…
Opinion: Anybody can be a friend to the disabled
(ABP) — My 24-year-old son is a certified nursing assistant who provides care for three children — two with intellectual disabilities — four nights a week while their single mother is at work. One “benefit” of such a noble-sounding…
Barriers of attitude block people with disabilities from full inclusion in churches
WASHINGTON (ABP) — According to a longtime advocate for people with disabilities, the greatest barriers to including special-needs individuals in churches are not architectural or language, but rather barriers of attitude. “We have within us prejudices,” said Ginny Thornburgh, director…
Church should be place of acceptance for people with special needs
As of the 2000 census, 54 million Americans had a legally defined disability, about one in five. WASHINGTON (ABP) — People with disabilities don’t want churches that just “welcome” them, but rather congregations that value them and include them in…
Seminaries not preparing pastors to minister to disabled, some assert
WACO, Texas (ABP) — An expert in the field of disability ministry says theological seminaries are doing little to prepare ministers to deal with the estimated one-in-five Americans living with some kind of disability. “There is almost nothing in the…
Interview: Raymond Bailey on 50 years of preaching
WACO, Texas (ABP) – Before beginning his sermon on May 9 on the eve of his retirement, Raymond Bailey reminded worshipers at Seventh & James Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, that he was not preaching his “final sermon,” but merely…
‘Idaho 10’ member blames UNICEF for arrests; UNICEF disputes allegations
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (ABP) — With the last of 10 Southern Baptist mission volunteers released from a Haitian jail May 17, one of her "Idaho 10" co-laborers is breaking his silence and blaming the whole ordeal on meddling by the…
Baptists increasingly mark Pentecost with missions, multiculturalism
WASHINGTON (ABP) — While the annual observance of Pentecost is not one that has a long history with many Baptist churches, there’s a natural fit between the holiday’s emphasis on the international nature of the church and the traditional Baptist…
Members of college mission team survive crash in Haiti
HANNIBAL, Mo. (ABP) — Fourteen students and a faculty sponsor from Baptist-affiliated Hannibal-LaGrange College were injured May 16 in a vehicle accident while on a mission trip in Haiti. The students — nine women and five men — were riding…
Flood relief turns to long-term recovery
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Twenty-seven volunteers from First Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., traveled three hours to Nashville in three shifts during the week of May 15-20 for flood relief. They were one of countless groups pitching in as response…