WASHINGTON (ABP) — In a television interview broadcast Dec. 8, President Bush said he doesn't know if God wanted him to be president, doubts the Bible is literally true, agrees you can believe in God and evolution simultaneously and believes…
NEW: Former SBC missionary accused of embezzling IMB funds now suspected in insurance sca
GULF SHORES, Ala. (ABP) — The International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention declined to press criminal embezzlement charges in 2005 against a man now accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in an Alabama insurance scam. According…
Ga. Baptists reject church with woman pastor
JONESBORO, Ga. (ABP) — The Georgia Baptist Convention has decided to refuse gifts from a historic member church that last year called a woman as pastor. Messengers to the Nov. 9-11 annual meeting approved a policy change authorizing convention leaders…
N.C. Baptists nix plan to forward CBF gifts
GREENSBORO, N.C. (ABP) — North Carolina Baptist churches soon won't be able to support the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship through the state convention, messengers decided at their annual meeting Nov. 12. The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina voted to kill…
Tough economic times don’t dim lights on Living Christmas Trees
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (ABP) — Rather than cutting back on lavish Christmas programs this year due to the economy, some church leaders insist hard times make them more valuable than ever. Billy Orton, minister of music and worship at First Baptist…
American Baptist agency faces shortfall
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (ABP) — The board of American Baptists' National Ministries met Nov. 12-13 to consider cuts to cover a $1 million gap between the organization's income and expenses. According to American Baptist News Service, National Ministries Executive…
Dobson claims election sets pro-lifers back years
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (ABP) — Focus on the Family founder James Dobson said Nov. 6 that Barack Obama's election could set America's pro-life movement back 35 years. In the first of a two-part broadcast on his radio show, Dobson admitted…
OPINION: Regardless of politics, a reason for America to rejoice
WASHINGTON (ABP) — Nov. 5, 2008, was the most improbable day of my 34-year-old life. The unlikely elevation of an African American to the presidency is just the latest episode in what the president-elect himself has called “the unlikely story…
Baptist leaders from Russia, Georgia seek reconciliation
KIEV, Ukraine (ABP) — Baptist leaders from Russia and Georgia met Oct. 30 in Kiev to pursue improved relations between Baptists in the two countries, marred by war earlier this year. Representatives of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia and…
Azerbaijani pastor’s trial delayed, attorney cries foul
The long-awaited trial of an Azerbaijani Baptist pastor arrested in June has had another delay. Hamid Shabanov, 52, was supposed to stand trial Oct. 31 on what supporters say are bogus weapons charges. But his family and lawyer told the…
Charismatic Southern Baptist churches see themselves as open to spiritual gifts
HIXSON, Tenn. (ABP) — Suffering from burnout after a decade as pastor of Central Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in suburban Chattanooga, Tenn., Ron Phillips wrote his resignation letter on a portable computer on the way to a meeting…
Trinity debate trickles down to gender roles
DEERFIELD, Ill. (ABP) — There's a tempest brewing among evangelical theologians about the triune nature of God, with potential to spill beyond academic halls into relationships between males and females in the church and home. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School sponsored…