ATLANTA (ABP) — A repeat of the 2008 Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant meeting in Atlanta could be in the offing as early as next year, according participants in a recent meeting of North American Baptist leaders called together…
SBC ethics chief supports Murfreesboro mosque
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — After opposing the building of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York City, the Southern Baptist Convention's chief spokesman on public policy has come out in support of Muslims seeking to build a new Islamic…
European Baptist leaders go ahead with plan to move Prague seminary
ROME (ABP) — The elegant complex of 19th-century buildings that houses the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague, Czech Republic, will likely be sold after European Baptist Federation leaders green-lighted a plan to move the seminary as a cost-saving measure….
World leaders cite progress, challenges at UN poverty summit
NEW YORK (ABP) — World leaders voiced deep concern about the impact of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression on international anti-poverty goals at a three-day summit at the United Nations Sept. 20-22. An outcome document for the…
Texas religious leaders denounce Islamic-bias-in-textbooks resolution
AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) — A group of Texas clergy, including some Baptist pastors, is speaking out against a proposed resolution that a state governing board may use to embroil itself yet again in the nation’s culture wars – this time…
SBC president calls for ‘radical reprioritization’ of mission spending
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The new president of the Southern Baptist Convention called for a "radical reprioritization" of spending in remarks to convention leaders Sept. 21. In his first remarks to the SBC Executive Committee, Bryant Wright, pastor of Johnson…
SBC Executive Committee deals with budget shortfall
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Even before considering a recommendation by the Southern Baptist Convention that it reduce its budget by nearly a third to channel more money to international missions, the SBC Executive Committee is facing a cash shortfall fueled…
State CBF proposal sparks debate about Baptist identity
GREENSBORO, N.C. (ABP) — A move by the North Carolina Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to revisit its foundational statement has prompted a nationwide debate among scholars about what it means to be a Baptist. Larry Hovis, coordinator of North Carolina CBF,…
Faith, fear clash in middle Tennessee over proposed mosque
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (ABP) — Mike Smith, pastor of First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tenn., received an anonymous letter this summer asking him to warn his congregation that a proposed new mosque near the city was part of “a long-range plan…