CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) — Fifteen years after the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship adopted an organizational value prohibiting the funding of organizations that affirm practicing homosexuals, a large crowd packed a workshop June 25 on what it means to be the “presence…
CBF to evaluate structure, funding in two-year study
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) — Facing a chronic budget shortfall, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship moderator Hal Bass has appointed a 14-member task force to study the organization’s missional and organizational future. The task force, emerging from consensus during a recent gathering of…
Baptists view growing Hispanic population as opportunity
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The Census Bureau reports the Hispanic population in the United States has more than doubled in the last 20 years, from 22 million in 1990 to a projected 47 million in 2010. In 40 years, experts…
Vestal says CBF will have to recall missionaries unless funding improves
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will be forced to recall missionaries from the field if donations to its annual Offering for Global Missions do not increase next year, CBF Executive Coordinator Daniel Vestal told the CBF Coordinating…
Baptists view growing Hispanic population as opportunity
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)—The Census Bureau reports the Hispanic population in the United States has more than doubled in the last 20 years, from 22 million in 1990 to a projected 47 million in 2010. In 40 years, experts project that…
SBC Executive Committee elects Page as president in executive session
ORLANDO, Fla. (ABP) — The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention voted in executive session June 14 to elect former SBC President Frank Page as the organization’s next president and CEO, replacing Morris Chapman, who retires Sept. 30 after…
Global Baptists ministering at World Cup soccer tourney
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (ABP) — For most of the globe outside the United States, it’s like the Super Bowl plus the NCAA Basketball Tournament plus the World Series plus the Olympics, all in one event. And Baptists in South Africa…
Pastor calls on SBC to adopt zero-tolerance of racism
ARLINGTON, Texas (ABP) — A prominent African-American pastor has announced plans to ask the Southern Baptist Convention to amend its constitution to ban churches that condone racism. Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, said in a…
Passport vice president nominated as CBF moderator-elect
ATLANTA (ABP) — Colleen Burroughs, vice president of the Passport youth camping ministry she started with her husband in 1993, will be nominated as moderator-elect of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Atlanta-based CBF announced May 24. If elected, she would…
Book draws on music of U2 to call for Christian unity
No caption submitted BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — A new book written by a Baptist professor applies theological themes found in the music of the Irish rock band U2 to the quest for Christian unity. In Ecumenism Means You Too —…
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…
Welcoming people with special needs can mean spiritual, numerical growth
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 even numerical growth, says an expert in disability…