“Together We Are Doing More” was the stated theme, but healing from financial scandal was the subtext that dominated the annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Messengers to the Nov. 13-14 meeting elected officers, adopted a $50.6…
Organization at center of scandal in Valley will shut down
A church-planting institute founded by Otto Arango—the central figure in a scandal involving misuse and mismanagement of Texas Baptist church-starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley—will cease to exist at the end of this year. At a special meeting in…
BGCT messengers support Wade despite handling of Valley scandal
Rank-and-file Texas Baptists are sad and angry about the financial scandal in the Rio Grande Valley that has marred their reputation, but most say they still trust their leaders—including executive director Charles Wade—to correct abuses and restore confidence in the…
Alabama Baptists approve budgets,ask Wal-Mart to reconsider
Wal-Mart's support of homosexuality, ethics in state government, and the humanitarian crisis in western Sudan surfaced as some of the top issues this year with Alabama Baptists. And Roger Willmore, pastor of Deerfoot Baptist Church in Trussville, Ala., became the…
Arizona voters nation’s first to reject amendment banning gay marriage
Although 27 other states since 1998 have approved amendments to their state constitutions banning gay marriage, Arizona voters bucked the national trend. With 100 percent of the state's precincts reporting by midday Nov. 8, according to the Arizona secretary of…
ANOTHER VIEW: You are what you eat
If you've never been to a “McDonald's Night,” consider yourself lucky. Now in theory, this is a “win-win” proposition: a fundraiser for my children's school and a night out of the kitchen. It has never been truer, alas, that the…
Probe finds Texas churchstarters got up to $1.3 million for bogus churches
A five-month investigation uncovered evidence Baptist General Convention of Texas church-starting funds were misused between 1999 and 2005 in the Rio Grande Valley. At a called meeting of the BGCT Executive Board Oct. 31, investigators reported they discovered up to…
Top evangelical Haggard steps down after allegations from gay prostitute
Ted Haggard, head of the National Association of Evangelicals and a prominent opponent of gay rights, resigned Nov. 2, after a Colorado man came forward with allegations that Haggard paid him for sex and drugs. According to a Colorado Springs,…
Muslim group decries Baptist leader’s claims about Islamic ‘takeover’ of U.S.
Leaders from a prominent American Muslim group have denounced reported comments by the Missouri Baptist Convention's executive director claiming that “Islam has a strategic plan” to take over the United States. Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Washington-based Council on…