ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP) — Niche marketing is not just a business term. Creative pastors are finding ways to discover a niche to reach their communities for Christ. One pastor, Stan Wyant, discovered a niche in his community. In his state…
IMB envisions 3,000 more missionaries on field
RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP) — Many Southern Baptist churches that pride themselves in being “missions minded” might have a hard time convincing an impartial observer, an International Mission Board leader told trustees Sept. 12 at LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center. The meeting…
USCIRF decries Pakistan’s abuse of blasphemy laws
WASHINGTON (BP)—Incessant persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan is generating increased concern from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. A recent news release from the USCIRF expressed outrage over the Islamic country's abuse of its blasphemy…
Do the math on abstinence education
Just in time for a Capitol Hill battle over abstinence education funding, a curious report was released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in April. Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., a Washington D.C. think tank, conducted the study…
Chaplains prep West Point cadets for spiritual warfare
WEST POINT, N.Y. (BP)—Southern Baptist chaplains Col. John Cook and Lt. Col. Darrell Thomsen, along with other chaplains at West Point, mourn the loss of 51 academy graduates since the war began. Still, new cadets keep coming with a desire…
Masters winner buoyed by faith, marriage
The day before Johnson won the tournament April 8, J.B. Collingsworth, president of the Marriage and Family Matters ministry, sent the golfer a text message of Psalm 16:8: “I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at…
Torture declaration irrational, says professor
An anti-torture statement endorsed by the National Association of Evangelicals “is a moral travesty managing not only to confuse but to harm genuine evangelical witness in the culture,” a Southern Baptist ethics professor said March 15. “The main problem I…
NAMB names 2nd largest group of missionaries
The Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board named 128 new missionaries and chaplains during a Feb. 25 service in Albuquerque, N.M. It was the second-largest missionary commissioning in NAMB history. During the service, which also was sponsored by Hoffmantown…
Clinton to speak as part of Ouachita inauguration
Former President Bill Clinton will lecture at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark., as part of a weeklong inaugural celebration for the school's 15th president, Rex Horne Jr., Clinton's former pastor. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Ouachita graduate and…
Episcopal Church left historic Christianity, conservatives say
Two leaders of The Falls Church, one of the largest Episcopal parishes in Virginia that voted to sever ties with the Episcopal Church, said they left the denomination because the American Episcopal Church “no longer believes in the historic, orthodox…
Chaplain: Grounds for his ouster were overturned by Congress
While the U.S. Navy has rescinded a regulation that restricted chaplains from conducting public worship outside of Sunday chapels, an evangelical claims the military branch is firing him for violating that guideline. A chaplain at the Naval Air Station in…
Passion officials to hold world tour in 2008
Passion 07 ended Jan. 4 with the announcement that there will be no Passion 08, but rather many smaller events will be held in the United States and in various parts of the world. Passion founder Louie Giglio said the…