By Jeff Brumley If the deadly Oklahoma tornado has a silver lining, it may be the ecumenical spirit driving the response and recovery efforts of local churches, local ministers say. Local Baptist and other pastors describe an ongoing, cooperative effort…
ABPNews, Religious Herald plan merger
By Bob Allen and Robert Dilday Associated Baptist Press and the Religious Herald have agreed in principle to a merger of their operations, creating a new Baptist media platform which leaders of the two news organizations said will enhance the…
Suzii Paynter on life, Lent and CBF
By Jeff Brumley Since her nomination as executive coordinator in January, Suzii Paynter has been traveling at a breathless pace helping guide the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship into a new organizational and missional era. The pace only increased with her election…
New lives for CBF missionaries
By Jeff Brumley The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in October announced its six newest field personnel. In June, they’ll be commissioned and most will leave for their assignments in the fall. But all of them are already intensely working to raise the…
The illnesses of American Christianity
In his important new magnum opus, A Thicker Jesus, my friend Glen Stassen suggests that Christianity is ill in America, but in two very different ways. One form of Christianity is ill, according to Stassen, because it is essentially theologically and…
Westboro: Condemn or ignore them?
By Jeff Brumley Public resentment of Westboro Baptist Church has reached new heights as a petition drive to label it a hate group has surpassed 250,000 signatures. Even some religious leaders have joined in the chorus denouncing the Kansas-based group…
2012: A year in review
By Bob Allen Here are some of the top newsmakers of 2012 as reported by ABPnews. Obamacare Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler observed in January that Health and Human Services regulations, including pregnancy in “preventive services” that insurers…
Longtime SC editor John Roberts dies
By Bob Allen John Roberts, the longest-serving editor in the history of The Baptist Courier, died Aug. 15, the South Carolina Baptist Convention news journal has reported. Roberts, 85, died at the Rolling Green Retirement Community in Greenville, S.C., following…
Longtime SC editor John Roberts dies
By Bob Allen John Roberts, the longest-serving editor in the history of The Baptist Courier, died Aug. 15, the South Carolina Baptist Convention news journal has reported. Roberts, 85, died at the Rolling Green Retirement Community in Greenville, S.C., following…
Longtime SC editor John Roberts dies
By Bob Allen John Roberts, the longest-serving editor in the history of The Baptist Courier, died Aug. 15, the South Carolina Baptist Convention news journal has reported. Roberts, 85, died at the Rolling Green Retirement Community in Greenville, S.C., following…
Reflections on a summer away
By David P. Gushee I am grateful to the editors of Associated Baptist Press for holding a place for me while I took a break from opinion writing this summer. Perhaps I will get broken in again by simply offering…
SBCs’ top public policy spokesman Richard Land to retire
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)—Richard Land, Southern Baptists’ top public-policy spokesman, announced July 31 that he will retire next year. Land, 65, plans to step down Oct. 23, 2013, from the Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, 25 years to…