By Bob Allen Four months before the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board announced plans to eliminate between 600 and 800 jobs, a seminary president said about 750 missionaries need to be removed because they are ineffective or doctrinally unsound….
IMB head explains cutbacks in open letter
By Bob Allen The head of the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board, which recently announced plans to cut personnel by 600 to 800 jobs over the next six months, said in an open letter to Southern Baptists Sept. 4…
Southern Baptists to cut missionary force by 15 percent
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board will offer voluntary incentive for early retirement in an attempt to cut between 600 and 800 jobs from the agency’s missionary force and staff. Leaders of the Richmond, Va.,-based IMB…
IMB drops ban on ‘private prayer language’
By Bob Allen The International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention has dropped a controversial ban on missionaries who use a “private prayer language” that a decade ago helped stimulate the growth of blogs as a medium for dissent…
Baptists join growing army of relief headed to Nepal
By Jeff Brumley Governments, the United Nations and an army of international aid agencies are pouring relief supplies and workers into Nepal. And faith-based groups, including many Baptist organizations, are going in right along with them. Baptist groups across the…
David Platt elected IMB president
By Bob Allen David Platt, a 36-year-old pastor active in the “young, restless and reformed” movement in the Southern Baptist Convention, was elected Aug. 27 as president of the SBC International Mission Board. Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook…
Victim of former missionary’s theft loses health, wealth, but keeps sense of humor
By Bob Allen An Alabama woman who lost her home, business and health as a result of a bookkeeper’s scam says in a new book that she never would have met the man who stole tens of thousands of dollars…
International Mission Board appoints 51 workers
TAMPA, Fla. (BP) — Six men with ski masks and machine guns stood between James Roberts and the security of a warm bed. He knew there was a possibility of facing something like this when he picked post-war Kosovo for…
Ugandan Baptist pastor counsels people with AIDS
BARARA, Uganda (BP)—Dressed in a suit coat and tie, Nabath Atusasire looks a little out of place as he picks his way through an overgrown banana grove. The humid heat of southern Uganda presses on him. Slick-soled dress shoes provide…
Words of Hope ministry changes outlook for people with AIDS
AKOPE STATION, Uganda (BP)—Saidat Makop is sick. To look at her, a casual observer would never know. She looks as healthy as the next person. Her cheeks are rosy. She works in the garden for hours. Her eyes might look…
OFFERINGS: Taking the gospel to Russia’s struggling Udmurt people
IZHEVSK, Russia (BP) — No father should have to bury a son. But the world can be a sad place — particularly the piece of it called Udmurtia (ood-MER-ti-yah) in the foothills of Russia's Ural Mountains. On a spring day…
OFFERINGS: Ukrainian believers take gospel to Kazakhstan
PAVLODAR, Kazakhstan (BP) — Roman Gopanchuk gestures with his left hand and leans forward to explain a Scripture passage to his home Bible study group in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. Just outside the living room door, Gopanchuk's 8-year-old son, Timofey, plays with…