By Bob Allen A Texas Baptist church is facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed by parents claiming sexual abuse by a youth minster in the 1990s led to their son’s death by suicide. A lawsuit filed in Dallas County District…
Young ministers learn the pastor’s delicate balance
Elijah Zehyoue has been building toward ministry for nearly a decade. Growing up in the church in Baton Rouge, La., he began discerning God’s call as a 16-year-old. He graduated from Morehouse College as part of the Phi Beta Kappa…
Hope blooms in the Arkansas Delta, thanks to ministry team
Twenty-year-old Ira Nealy is from an economically distressed, high-crime community in the Arkansas Delta. Plenty of men his age in his hometown of Helena, Ark., don’t have bright futures. But such statistics don’t define Ira Nealy — thanks, he says,…
Church questioned after hiring accused predator
By Bob Allen An Alabama judge has revoked the bond of a former youth pastor awaiting trial for sex crimes after media reports he was serving at a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship church in Texas. Advocates for survivors of child sexual…
Baptist church uncertain why it was targeted by anti-gay protesters
By Jeff Brumley The folks at College Park Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., remain baffled as to why anti-gay protesters demonstrated outside their sanctuary on Aug. 23, hurling insults at members and clergy. The American Baptist Churches-USA congregation has been…
Racially diverse nation isn’t mirrored in most religious groups
By Robert Dilday The American Baptist Churches U.S.A. ranks in the top 10 of the most racially diverse religious groups in the United States, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center. But with 73 percent of its…
Jimmy Carter’s church to limit Sunday crowds
By Bob Allen Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., announced Aug. 27 it would begin limiting the size of crowds attending a Sunday school class taught by former President Jimmy Carter. Last Sunday Carter, 90, for the first time pulled…
Couple accused of stealing from church they helped plant
By Bob Allen A North Carolina pastor and his wife have been arrested for allegedly stealing more than $40,000 from the church they helped plant in 2006. George Keith Hall, 51, and Leslie Hill Hall, 52, turned themselves into police in…
Study: church diversity does not guarantee diverse thinking, beliefs
By Jeff Brumley Many think of multiracial congregations as places where understanding grows between blacks, Hispanics and whites on social and justice issues. But a newly published study suggests that the opposite is true in many such congregations. Instead, it…
State convention challenges church’s acceptance of gays
By Bob Allen The South Carolina Baptist Convention has written a letter asking First Baptist Church of Greenville to either recant its recent decision to include gays in all areas of church life or withdraw from the 2,000-church state affiliate…
Churches must be creative to meet coming ‘Boomer wave’
By Jeff Brumley Congregational coaches are warning churches against becoming so fixated on Millennials and other young people that they ignore the surging population of Baby Boomers already in their midst. But those experts say most congregations simply aren’t ready…
Al Mohler, Franklin Graham, criticize FBC Greenville’s affirmation of gays
By Bob Allen The president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s flagship seminary said Aug. 18 he is not surprised by news that the school’s mother church has taken a stance of affirming homosexuality. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological…