FORT WORTH, Texas—Five main sessions of the upcoming June 20-23 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Fort Worth, Texas, will be broadcast live online. Sessions can be viewed live or accessed later from archives at www.thefellowship.info/fortworth. The first webcast features…
Southern Baptist Convention elects first black president
NEW ORLEANS—One hundred sixty-seven years after forming over the right to appoint slaveholders as missionaries and 17 years after apologizing for the denomination’s racist past, the Southern Baptist Convention elected its first African-American president June 19. Messengers to the June…
Baptists split on NC gay marriage ban
RALEIGH, N.C.—Some religious leaders hailed North Carolina’s May 8 passage of a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman as a win for family values, while others vowed to continue the fight for what they call…
SBC leader issues apologies for comments
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)—After initially defending comments accusing black leaders of politicizing the death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, the head of Southern Baptists’ Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission issued back-to-back apologies regarding statements he made on his radio program. Richard…
Covenant is the best model for Christians grappling changing sexual morals, says David Gushee
DECATUR, Ga. (ABP)—The co-convener of a conference on sexuality and covenant said April 20 that long-term committed relationships are the best model for Christians struggling to make sense of changing morals about sex. “I believe that covenant is a, if…
Christians no longer have consensus on sexual ethics, says keynote speaker at sexuality conference
ATLANTA (ABP)—Christians no longer share a consensus that sex outside of marriage is always wrong and must find new ways to deal with that reality besides splitting into smaller and smaller groups over issues like homosexuality and contraception, a keynote…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Book says young Christians want more than politics
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)—Today’s young Christians aren’t interested in enlisting for the culture wars that created a brand of Christianity focused more on the ballot box than serving others, author and cultural commentator Jonathan Merritt says in a new book due…
Mark Driscoll’s visit to Liberty making waves
LYNCHBURG, Va. (ABP)—Never a stranger to controversy, Seattle mega church pastor Mark Driscoll is causing a stir with an upcoming visit to Liberty University. The conservative Christian school in Lynchburg, Va., is next up on a tour by the founding…
Seminary rallies support for gay-marriage ban
WAKE FOREST, N.C. (ABP)—Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary devoted a special chapel service March 28 to rally support for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in North Carolina. Keynote speaker Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and…