Tennessee megachurch pastor Steve Gaines was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention June 15 when another candidate conceded in a runoff election that was too close to call. Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., came three…
Southern Baptists renounce Confederate flag
One hundred seventy one years after its founding over a dispute about whether slaveholders could be appointed as missionaries, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a strongly worded resolution June 14 against public display of the Confederate flag. The resolution, as…
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…
Southern Baptists pledge prayer for Orlando
Though the Southern Baptist Convention will be asked this week to adopt a statement affirming its opposition to same-sex marriage, the denomination opened its 2016 annual meeting in St. Louis, Mo., with prayer that God might “take that which Satan meant…
Outsider SBC presidential hopeful loses nominator
A Georgia layman who announced recently he is running for president of the Southern Baptist Convention says it looks like his agenda to shake up business as usual in the nation’s second-largest faith group will have to wait another year….
Freefall continues in SBC membership, baptism stats
The Southern Baptist Convention lost more than 200,000 members last year and baptized fewer than 300,000 new converts for the first time in 68 years, according to statistics compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources. The loss of 204,409 members in 2015…
Victims’ group asks Southern Baptists to create ‘safe place’ for reporting sexual abuse
As the Southern Baptist Convention prepares to gather for its annual meeting June 14-15 in St. Louis, leaders of a support group for survivors of institutional sex abuse called on denominational leaders to take action to prevent the next “Spotlight”-style…
Trafficking sting nets children’s minister
A children’s pastor at a Southern Baptist church was among 32 people arrested in a three-day human trafficking sting operation in Knoxville, Tenn., law enforcement officials announced May 20. Jason Kennedy, 46, children’s pastor for birth through fifth grade at…
Baptist leader asks Fla. governor to reject transgender bathroom order
A Florida Baptist executive penned an open letter May 18 urging the state’s governor to ignore directions from the Obama administration to allow transgender students to use the school bathroom of their choice instead of the one that corresponds to…