By Bob Allen Brent Walker announced plans Oct. 5 to retire at the end of 2016 as executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, a Washington-based organization founded in 1936 serving 15 Baptist bodies in the United…
No slowing down: Jimmy Carter celebrates 91st birthday
By Bob Allen Former President Jimmy Carter turns a youthful 91 today, with plans for a private birthday celebration in Americus, Ga. The Carter Center joined the celebration by discounting the regular $8 adult admission to the Jimmy Carter Presidential…
Logsdon professor to lead global interfaith group
By Jeff Brumley Cooperative Baptist Fellowship leader Suzii Paynter describes Rob Sellers as a superb scholar dedicated to interfaith work. Roy Medley of the American Baptist Churches USA and the National Council of Churches lauds Sellers’ skill at building bridges…
CBF church member credits Kelly Gissendaner for second chance
By Bob Allen A member of a Cooperative Baptist Church in Atlanta says a murderess on Georgia’s death row sentenced to die tomorrow night is being judged for taking one life but not receiving mercy for saving others. Nikki Roberts,…
Diana Garland, social work educator and bridge builder, dies
By Marv Knox Diana Richmond Garland, founding dean of Baylor University’s school of social work that now bears her name, died Sept. 21 after a five-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Garland, 65, trained generations of Christian social workers to express…
Ole Miss honors Will Campbell
By Bob Allen Sixty years after he was forced out of a job for challenging racial segregation on campus, the University of Mississippi is naming a plaza for the late Will Campbell, a renegade Baptist minister and author active in…
Pastor reflects on blessings weeks after N.M. church bombings
By Jeff Brumley A church bombing — moments before Sunday worship — would seem like a uniformly negative event in the life of a congregation and its minister. But that’s just not the case for Calvary Baptist Church and Kevin Glenn, who’s…
Serving the poor and homeless — and a passion for barbecue
By Jeff Brumley Texan Blake Barrow has two main callings in life. One is to serve the hungry and homeless. The other is to serve barbeque. And now the three-time Baylor University graduate has cooked up a plan to combine…
Controversial preacher returning to T4G stage
By Bob Allen A speaker sidelined two years ago by a sexual abuse scandal at his former church is back at center stage for an upcoming conference featuring prominent leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention. C.J. Mahaney, senior pastor of…
New book on James reveals connection between ministry and scholarship
By Jeff Brumley What scholars do in seminaries and minsters do in the field may seem like polar opposite endeavors. Well, Jason Coker says, they aren’t. “I never separate the academics from practical ministry,” said Coker, pastor of Wilton Baptist…
SBC leader to speak at controversial family congress
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist Convention seminary president has joined the lineup of speakers for the first U.S. gathering of an international congress to affirm, celebrate and encourage the “natural family,” defined as marriage between a man and woman….
Baptist minister, children pioneer sacred arts camp concept
By Jeff Brumley Michael Sciretti, it turns out, has this thing for the tabernacle described in Exodus and how it parallels the creation account in Genesis. And he’s convinced the symbolism of it all contains an abundance of spiritual experiences…