By Bob Allen A member of the committee that revised the Baptist Faith and Message in 2000 says the growing acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex marriage in moderate and liberal denominations vindicates the wisdom of including a statement on the…
Former SBC presidents unite against gay marriage
By Bob Allen Sixteen former Southern Baptist Convention presidents released a statement June 16 urging churches to disregard any legal definition of marriage as anything other than the union of a woman and a man. The statement, drafted in a…
SBC asks Supreme Court to rule against gay marriage
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention called on the U.S. Supreme Court to leave it up to the states to decide whether or not to permit gay marriage in a resolution adopted June 16 in Columbus, Ohio. With a…
SBC ousts another gay-friendly church
By Bob Allen For the second straight year, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has voted to oust a church over homosexuality. The Executive Committee took action June 15 against Weatherly Heights Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala., under a bylaw…
Proud/Ashamed of the Southern Baptist Convention
The 2015 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention is scheduled for June 16-17 in Columbus, Ohio. The business will be conducted by Ronnie Floyd, the SBC president whom I recently mentioned. For many years it was a thrill to…
Meeting in Ohio, SBC grapples with numerical decline
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention lost more than 200,000 members last year, according to statistics released just ahead of the 2015 SBC annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio. Annual statistics compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources, the convention’s publishing arm,…
The last time I saw Dallas
I’ll be going to Dallas, Texas next week to represent Smyth & Helwys Publishing at the General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF). I’m looking forward to it. They’re my people. The upcoming trip has put me in mind…
What about those who are trans formed?
Things used to be so simple when it came to gender issues. Boys/men were males who liked girls/women and girls/women were females who liked boys/men or at least wanted a good one for a husband and breadwinner/caretaker. In all the…
Why Rachel Held Evans is not that controversial
Just as we had finished imposing ashes on the foreheads of worshipers, my friend and fellow pastor David Bennett turned to me and said, “Alan, remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” And with those words, David…
Seminary president says Southern Baptists drifting toward infant baptism
By Bob Allen While a recent Baptist News Global story about a Baptist church in Ohio sprinkling an infant is newsworthy, baptizing babies isn’t as far-fetched as many conservative Southern Baptist churches assume, a seminary president said in a May…
Mike Huckabee announces presidential bid
By Bob Allen Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced his second run for president May 5 at a gathering in his hometown of Hope, Ark., pledging to lead the country “from hope to higher ground.” “It seems perfectly fitting that…
Southern Baptist military chaplains may plant churches overseas
By Bob Allen Southern Baptist military chaplains would be authorized to plant churches overseas under a recommendation headed toward the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 16-17 in Columbus, Ohio. In February the SBC Executive Committee approved a recommendation enabling…