By Bob Allen Crab cakes. The Southern Baptist Convention meets in Baltimore for the first time since 1940 in June. Fred Luter, the first black SBC president in history, isn’t eligible for another term, setting up a presidential race likely…
2013: The year in deaths
Dan Ariail, pastor emeritus of Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., where thousands of visitors attend Sunday worship and Bible studies by President Jimmy Carter each year, died Nov. 25 in hospice care. He was 75. Justice Anderson, 83, longtime…
2013: The year in quotes
“For some reason, in our immaturity, the assumption always is that our Christianity is the standard and our Baptist Christianity is the standard. And, of course, it’s not.” (Kathe Traynham) “No one outside the tribe is going to celebrate these…
‘Churchy’ lingo turning off Millennials
(ABP) — If there were an 11th commandment, for Millennials it might be “thou shalt ban pious slogans from thy midst.” In fact, faith-based lingo — like “everything happens for a reason” and “God is in control” — is coming…
Rigid worship agendas can become idolatry, says York
(ABP) — Agendas, even holy agendas, are not worthy of worship, Terry York is convinced. And when something else — anything else — takes the place of God as the focus of the church’s worship, it violates God’s commandment against…
Mexican churches jam cell phones during worship
(ABP) — They sound off during formal dinners, in restaurants, at the movies and even in churches. They’ve become the bane of every public speaker. The dreaded cell phones. As technology has given us the ability to reach out and…
Proposal would nix N.C.’s giving options
(ABP) — A North Carolina Baptist leader will propose scrapping the optional funding plans that are part of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s budget, which would eliminate funding of causes popular among moderate Baptists in the state. Ted…
BJC receives $100,000 for lecture series
(ABP) — A Baptist historian and his wife have given the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty a large gift to establish a lectureship on church-state issues. The Washington-based BJC announced the $100,000 gift from Walter and Kay Shurden of…
Gary Baldridge to leave CBF missions post
(ABP) — Gary Baldridge, who with his wife has led the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s global missions effort for five years, will leave the CBF at the end of the year to return to a career in writing. Daniel Vestal, CBF…