TAMPA, Fla. (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship commissioned 14 self-funded individuals — including a couple from Virginia — to missions work June 23 at the General Assembly in Tampa, Fla. More than 1,600 Fellowship Baptists were in attendance on…
Women ministers gaining ground in Baptist life, report indicates
TAMPA, Fla. (ABP) — Women are making slow but steady progress into ministry positions in Baptist churches, according to a report released June 22 by Baptist Women in Ministry. The fourth State of Women in Baptist Life report by the…
Anniversary speaker labels CBF a ‘movement of the Spirit’
TAMPA, Fla. (ABP) — Two decades after forming as a “new spiritual home place” for disenfranchised Southern Baptists, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship now is “called as a movement of the Spirit,” the keynote speaker at a 20th anniversary celebration banquet…
AFA’s Bryan Fischer accuses SBC of pandering to gays, illegal aliens
TUPELO, Miss. (ABP) — A prominent conservative social activist has accused the Southern Baptist Convention of pandering to gays and illegal immigrants. Bryan Fischer, radio talk show host and spokesman for the American Family Association, commented in a blog that…
SBC resolution targets Sharia law
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention’s top public-policy expert said June 18 that any imposition of Sharia law by courts in the United States would violate the Constitution. The president of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission…
Ministry helps churches to make marriages divorce-proof
BETHESDA, Md. (ABP) — America’s divorce rate is the highest in the world, double that of Canada and triple either England or France, but most divorces don’t need to happen, marriage specialists Mike and Harriet McManus insist. Married since 1965,…
Is marriage a ‘dying’ institution?
Marriage is a “dying institution,” actress Cameron Diaz claimed recently. And the movie star’s assertion hit a nerve. “I think we have to make our own rules,” Diaz said in the June issue of Maxim magazine. “I don’t think we…
Study examines what opportunities families want from their church
WACO, Texas (ABP) — Conventional wisdom says “the family that prays together stays together.” But one study of 15 Baptist congregations found that what families want most from their church are opportunities to serve. In 2004, Baylor University researchers polled more…
Southern Seminary’s Mohler says Baptists must repent of homophobia
PHOENIX (ABP) — The president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary said June 15 that Southern Baptists need to repent of a “form of homophobia” that keeps gays and lesbians out of their churches. Albert Mohler responded during his report to…