The Southern Baptist Convention is on track to have its most attended and most consequential annual meeting in 25 years when it gathers in Nashville June 15-16. Ronnie Floyd, president of the SBC Executive Committee, announced on Twitter that pre-registration…
The strange saga of the Riley Foundation lawsuit now forces SBC to figure out who has the right to remove a seminary trustee
A months-long battle for ultimate control of the Southern Baptist Convention’s agencies and institutions came to light Feb. 21 when a trove of attorney communications exposed a rift between officers of the SBC Executive Committee and leaders of Southwestern Baptist…
State conventions beyond the South question SBC North American Mission Board’s spending and accountability for church planting
A decade-long disagreement over how Southern Baptists fund church planting and missions in North America is coming to a head and threatens the sanctity of the denomination’s spirit of cooperative giving. The result: State conventions outside the South are reducing…
A second SBC pastor in Texas called Vice President Kamala Harris ‘Jezebel’
It turns out that East Texas pastor Tom Buck wasn’t the first Southern Baptist pastor in Texas to call Vice President Kamala Harris a “Jezebel.” Steve Swofford, pastor of First Baptist Church of Rockwall, Texas, located in the eastern suburbs…
SBC leaders cautiously wading into the conflict created by seminary presidents on race
Nearly three weeks after presidents of the six Southern Baptist Convention seminaries issued a controversial statement on systemic racism, other elected leaders within the SBC began to respond to the criticisms — although not with the same clarity with which…
SBC urged to ‘reset spiritually and strategically’ amid continuing declines
There were areas of improvement, too, including an $82-million increase in giving from 2017 to 2018, and a rise in new churches in four states.
Trump treats evangelical supporters to ‘state dinner’
Evangelist Paula White presented President Donald Trump with a Bible signed by more than 100 evangelical Christians with the inscription “History will record the greatness that you have brought for generations,” according to a White House transcript of an event…
Trump, Kavanaugh and their strange (religious) bedfellows
It’s not every day that the progressive Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the conservative American Family Association agree on something. But it’s happened thanks to President Trump, whose nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, 53, to the…
Former SBC leaders denounce ‘Christophobic behavior’ in Clinton campaign
Two past presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention and a retired agency head were among 86 Roman Catholic and evangelical leaders in an open letter Oct. 12 denouncing what they call anti-Christian bigotry in the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. The…
Southern Baptists named to Trump advisory team
The Donald Trump campaign tapped two former Southern Baptist Convention presidents, a former agency head and a Dallas pastor who has prayed at several of his campaign events for a new executive board to advise the presumptive Republican nominee on…
Do only black football players sexually assault coeds at Baylor?
This is a big month in race relations among Baptists. This week at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, Jerry Young, president of the National Baptist Convention USA Inc. was a speaker, and a participant with SBC president…
Southern Baptists convene panel on racial reconciliation
Meeting 20 minutes from Ferguson, Mo., Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd convened a historic national panel discussion on racial unity and the church in America June 14 at the America’s Center Convention Complex in downtown St. Louis. Floyd, pastor…