WASHINGTON (ABP) — In all of America's brouhaha over whether legalizing same-sex marriage will sully the institution's sanctity, very few Christians are asking one important question: When — and why — did the government get into the sanctification business? When…
Establishment candidate wins presidency
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Atlanta-area pastor Johnny Hunt was elected Southern Baptist Convention president over five contenders on the first ballot June 10, returning control of the 16 million-member denomination to its conservative establishment. On the first day of the 2008…
SBC targets Texas church over homosexuality
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — A Fort Worth, Texas, church, which long ago cut back its support of the Southern Baptist Convention, nonetheless could be ousted from that body because it welcomes homosexuals. The possible ouster of Broadway Baptist Church, along with…
IMB supporters opposed missionary rules
RICHMOND (ABP) — A group of current and former missionaries, former mission-board trustees and pastors is calling for the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board to reverse controversial guidelines for missionaries enacted in 2005. The guidelines prohibit the appointment of…
Polygamist sect’s children sing, write poems to thank Baptists
GONZALES, Texas (ABP) — Children seized from a polygamist sect's compound and temporarily entrusted to a Texas Baptist child-care agency bid farewell to their former caretakers May 31 with poetry, song and strong emotion. In anticipation of a court ruling…
Abundant field of SBC candidates may signal relaxed political reins
INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Candidates are lining up two-by-two for this year's Southern Baptist Convention presidency — two big-church pastors, two small-church pastors, two former missionaries. For the first time in almost three decades, six men will be nominated for the…
Southern gospel music legend Dottie Rambo dies in crash
MOUNT VERNON, Mo. (ABP) — Southern gospel music singer and songwriter Dottie Rambo, 74, was killed when her tour bus ran off a highway near Mount Vernon, Mo., May 11. She was en route to an engagement in Texas after…
Longtime Baptist musician, seminary professor dies in Florida at 86
ORANGE PARK, Fla. (ABP) — Longtime Baptist hymn writer and music professor Hugh McElrath passed away May 8 at his winter home in Penney Farms, Fla. He also resided in Louisville, Ky. He was 86. McElrath was a professor of…
Evangelical manifesto draws praise, criticism
WASHINGTON (ABP) — If the authors of “An Evangelical Manifesto,” released May 7, aimed to inspire conversation and self-reflection among their kindred, they certainly succeeded. Among Baptists at the intersection of faith and public life, the conversation and reflection have…