Recent staff reductions at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship are the result of a downturn in unrestricted income, according to Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley. The change is a somewhat rapid response to real-time conditions, Baxley told BNG in a Feb. 3…
CBF reduces staff by seven positions
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has eliminated seven staff positions, according to a letter from Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley sent to governance leaders last week. It is not yet known if any of those positions were vacant and therefore how many…
Baylor and CBF announce new partnership
Baylor University and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship have announced a joint venture that will place three CBF field personnel — missionaries — on campus to guide students in responding to God’s call to ministry. Baylor is a Baptist heritage university…
Some Baptist leaders hopeful about Pope Leo XIV
“I did not think this would happen in my lifetime,” Baptist scholar Elizabeth Newman said of the election of an American as pope. Newman, a theologian and ethicist who serves as co-chair of the Baptist-Catholic dialogues convened by Baptist World…
Despite court injunction, immigration agents show up at CBF ministry
A March 18 encounter with federal agents left a North Carolina refugee ministry and its network of supporting congregations rattled but determined as ever “to continue serving the stranger in our community,” said Marc Wyatt, director of Welcome House Raleigh….
Dockery, Haggray and Baxley among those remembering Jimmy Carter warmly
For the most part, Baptist leaders in the United States heaped praise on former U.S. President Jimmy Carter after his Dec. 29 death at age 100. Apart from Al Mohler, a Southern Baptist Convention seminary president who accused Carter of…
Progressive faith leaders call for renewed attention to 8 principles of faith and democracy
Two hundred faith leaders, including some luminaries of progressive Christianity, have signed a new statement on Christian faith and democracy calling for renewed attention to eight key principles. “The United States confronts a crisis of democracy, and the American church…
Do I belong here? A first timer reflects on the CBF General Assembly
As a first timer to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly, I was new to name tag ribbons. After checking in, I paused with my name tag at the table strewn with colors, examining the various identities like “Chaplain,” “El Familia” and…
At this Baptist gathering, there will be no debate about women preaching
The national media won’t be on hand, and there aren’t likely to be hot debates over women in ministry when the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship gathers in Atlanta next week for its General Assembly. The largest of two breakaway groups from…
Great Rivers Fellowship names Caldwell, McNary as first staff leaders
Great Rivers Fellowship, a new Cooperative Baptist Fellowship regional organization formed by the merger of CBF units in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, has elected its first staff leaders. Mississippi native Brittany Caldwell, a program coordinator and pastor who most recently…
Who’ll bring the sackcloth and ashes to CBF General Assembly this week?
“Think they’ll have everyone wear sackcloth and ashes at CBF General Assembly this year?” I texted those words to a fellow Baptist clergywoman after reading the State of Women in Baptist Life report. I wasn’t kidding either. I desperately want…
CBF names two search teams for key staff openings
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has named two eight-members teams to search for key staff members. One team will identify needed leadership gifts and structures for the future of CBF Global Missions and serve as a search committee for a coordinator…