The headlines each year going into the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting seem to focus on Southern Baptists’ latest attempts to put women in their place and keep them there. Whether they were voting to remove Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church…
Jack Martin, bringer of hope to Thai prisoners
Jack Martin, who pioneered ministry to prison inmates in Thailand during his nearly 35 years as a Baptist missionary, died Sept. 20 after a long illness. He was 90. Like many pioneers, Martin didn’t take no for an answer when…
Legendary Baptist missions leader Keith Parks dies
Keith Parks, who led global missions enterprises for both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, died Aug. 26 in Richardson, Texas, at age 97. Parks committed his long life to telling people all over the world about…
Fourteen years later, SBC has implemented only two of seven Great Commission plans, audit shows
Fourteen years after adopting an aggressive plan to advance the Great Commission of Jesus, the Southern Baptist Convention largely has failed to follow its own plan, a blue-ribbon evaluation team reports. “What will likely be the key takeaway from this…
What can be learned from the SBC Book of Reports? The circle remains unbroken
The Southern Baptist Convention is so big and its empire so far-reaching that it’s hard to get true perspective on its scope and trends. One of the few snapshots to give insight is the Book of Reports, published just prior…
Virginia church with historic ties to SBC will vote on leaving due to Law Amendment
A Virginia church with deep historical ties to the Southern Baptist Convention will vote May 19 on a proposal to sever ties with the SBC due to the denomination’s intolerance for women serving as pastors. For decades, First Baptist Church…
Georgia Baptists were unable to pay retirees’ supplemental insurance but found $2 million ‘surplus’ to give to SBC
A state Baptist convention that has not been able to pay its retirees’ promised medical supplements for two years made a $2 million extra gift to the Southern Baptist Convention’s two missions agencies Nov. 14. That extra giving — $1.7…
Pioneering missionary journalist Craig Bird dies in Texas
Baptist journalist and educator Craig Bird died Dec. 12 at age 73 due to complications from a fall he experienced the week before, according to his family. Bird, who was born in Arkansas on Oct. 4, 1949, to Clyde and C.W….
2021 was a very good year for growth in assets for SBC’s largest agencies
The Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board nearly tripled its investment income in 2021 compared to 2020, according to the latest financial reports published in the SBC Annual 2022. NAMB booked $44.93 million in investment income for 2021, compared…
Baptist pastor Wade Burleson running for Congress from Oklahoma
A well-known Oklahoma Baptist pastor announced Feb. 1 that he will challenge a 28-year incumbent to represent the state’s Third Congressional District. If elected, Wade Burleson would be the second Oklahoma Baptist pastor currently serving in Congress; Oklahoma Sen. James…
9/11 at 20: The ongoing choice between fear and love
On Sept. 11, 2001, I was flying into Cairo with my photographer partner to do a magazine coverage on that vast, ancient city. Gazing at the Giza pyramids from the air on approach, we had no clue about the horror…
How one Vietnamese convert sparked a church-planting movement that defied the odds
The afternoon Bible study in what was then called Saigon began as most others, with a group of curious Vietnamese nationals walking into a small, nondescript home. They attended for a variety of reasons, but primarily to learn English and…