By Robert Dilday A vision statement adopted March 29 by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina offers a new “way of seeing” the group’s future, say CBFNC leaders. Two years in the making, the statement proposed by a 13-member…
Missouri Baptists lose Windermere appeal
By Bob Allen The Missouri Baptist Convention’s 12-year-old legal battle with a breakaway entity may have ended, not with a bang but a whimper. On March 25 the Missouri Court of Appeals denied a jury trial to determine legal ownership…
World Vision’s policy reversal turns tables in same-sex marriage debate
By Bob Allen As bloggers both left and right shut down comments because of heated arguments about World Vision’s recently announced decision to hire gays, the tables turned suddenly March 26 when the parachurch charity publicly reversed the policy and…
Mid-Atlantic CBF partners with Washington-area seminary
By Robert Dilday Launching a new partnership with a Washington-area seminary topped the agenda of the Mid-Atlantic Cooperative Baptist Fellowship March 23 as it gathered for its annual meeting in suburban Maryland. The 50-church regional affiliate of the national CBF…
Petition asks gender-role group to repent
By Bob Allen An online petition posted recently at Change.org challenges the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood to apologize for what the sponsors say is the misuse of Scripture to keep women in their place. “At a time in…
Director of gender-roles council denies scrubbing article
By Bob Allen The head of an organization that advocates wifely submission in the church and home denies removing a web page containing an article being compared to Mormonism. Julie Ann Smith, who writes for a blog on spiritual abuse…
Glorieta case remains in federal court despite challenge
By Bob Allen A judge in New Mexico ruled March 20 that a federal court has jurisdiction over a lawsuit challenging last year’s sale of Glorieta Conference Center and lifted a stay so that the case can proceed. U.S. Magistrate…
Alban Institute, consultant for mainline congregations, shuttering after 40 years
By Bob Allen The Alban Institute is closing shop after 40 years as an independent consulting, educational and publishing firm catering to mainline Protestants, directors of the Herndon, Va.,-based nonprofit announced March 19. As of March 31, Alban Institute consultants…
Mission trip reflects growing shift as participants experience ‘transformation’
By Jeff Brumley It’s usually called a mission trip when a group of college students and their campus minister visit a ministry located in a struggling out-of-state neighborhood. But that’s not what a group of Clemson University undergrads and their…