Six months after publicly admitting sexual misconduct, Southern Baptist pastor and denominational leader Johnny Hunt has been cleared to return to ministry by a group of four male pastors who have been counseling him. Of the 70-year-old Hunt, one of…
Why was the Sills lawsuit filed in Alabama?
Amid the nationwide interest generated by the recent lawsuit brought by David and Mary Sills against the Southern Baptist Convention and 11 other defendants, some observers have raised a particular question: Why was this suit filed in Alabama, when none…
Sills lawsuit misrepresents a piece of evidence, and that error got highlighted by Ascol and Basham
After Baptist News Global broke the news that former seminary professor David Sills and his wife, Mary, filed a defamation lawsuit against the Southern Baptist Convention and 11 other defendants, three high-profile Southern Baptists took to Twitter to highlight one…
Sills files suit against SBC and 11 other defendants, claiming his relationship with Lyell was consensual and he became a ‘scapegoat’ in the SBC’s sexual abuse crisis
A former Southern Baptist seminary professor and his wife have filed suit against the Southern Baptist Convention and 11 other defendants claiming defamation of character and conspiracy in the well-publicized sexual abuse case of Jennifer Lyell. The lawsuit challenges what…
Southern Baptist support for Israel has traveled a winding road, scholar explains
The staunch theological and political support for the state of Israel that the Southern Baptist Convention is known for today was preceded by decades of diverse opinions among Baptists about the Zionist movement that eventually birthed the Jewish nation in…
Letter to the Editor: Dear SBC leaders, lead us to unity in diverse views on women in ministry
Letter to the Editor Nov. 7, 2022 Dear Editor: Right now, an amazing opportunity lies before the Southern Baptist Convention. We all know the polarization in our country is at an all-time high, which gives us the opportunity to show…
‘Let the messengers decide,’ two SBC leaders say of debate about expelling churches with female pastors
Determining whether to exclude churches with women serving in any way as pastors should be determined by messengers to next summer’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, according to the two men with the most influence over that process. SBC President…
Ralph Elliott, author of Genesis commentary that began the SBC’s battle for the Bible, dies
Ralph Elliott, the seminary professor whose commentary on Genesis became symbolic of the battle over biblical literalism in the Southern Baptist Convention, has died at age 97. Elliott died Sunday, Oct. 23, in Paoli, Pa. A family funeral service was…
New Saddleback pastor affirms women as preachers, SBC conservatives want constitutional amendment to exclude churches that affirm women as pastors
The battle over women serving as pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention took on new heat this week when the new pastor at Saddleback Church affirmed his belief that both men and women are qualified to preach and when a…
What’s the largest seminary in America today? You might be surprised
If Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary isn’t the world’s largest seminary anymore, what is? While it’s not easy to assess the world’s largest seminary, it is easy to identify the nation’s largest seminary. The answer may surprise some but also illustrates…
Henry Mugabe and son reportedly killed in crash in Zimbabwe
A key figure in resisting the spillover of the Southern Baptist Convention’s “conservative resurgence” into global missions outposts has been killed in an automobile tragedy in Zimbabwe, according to friends in America. Henry Mugabe along with his son, Munyaradzi Johannes Mugabe,…
Behind the numbers: How Southwestern Seminary’s enrollment came to be the lowest it has been since World War II
When news broke last month about the sudden resignation of Adam Greenway as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, many Southern Baptist Convention observers and alumni of the Fort Worth, Texas, seminary were surprised to learn how small the school…