By Bob Allen Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention will vote in June on a proposal to no longer recognize the District of Columbia Baptist Convention as a qualified state entitled to representation on SBC governing boards. Staff of the…
SBC leaders chide Boy Scouts
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, in a rare resolution on a public issue adopted between annual meetings of the SBC, criticized leaders who support dropping the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on gay Scouts and adult volunteers….
Recanting the Baptist Faith and Message
By Brian Miller In June 2000, I was on my way to a convention in Florida. I only had a vague idea of where I was going or what was happening there. I grew up as a Southern Baptist in…
Lay leader Steve Tondera dies
By Bob Allen A layman active in the resistance to a conservative faction that won control of the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1980s has died. Steve Tondera, 79, of Huntsville, Ala., died Feb. 13. A former NASA administrator and…
Study says faith, science not at odds
By Bob Allen An MIT study published Feb. 12 in honor of naturalist Charles Darwin’s 204th birthday suggests the gap between faith and scientific beliefs is not as large as most people think, and that part of the controversy might…
True Love Waits turns 20
By Jeff Brumley Ryan Rouse, 33, credits a little piece of paper kept in his Bible for helping him remain a virgin until his wedding day in 2002. “There were definitely times when temptation would start to factor in –…
Petition calls out silent leaders
By Bob Allen Current and former members of Sovereign Grace Ministries churches have launched an online petition asking national evangelical leaders to pay attention to and act on concerns voiced about the movement’s leader, a popular speaker among followers of…
Dear Boy Scouts of America
Dear Boy Scouts of America: I hope this finds you well, though all the conversation in the media seems to say otherwise. You’re apparently between a rock and a hard place, at least politically speaking. You don’t want to alienate your base,…
Former aide: Mahaney should be sidelined
By Bob Allen A former associate of a pastor named in a class-action lawsuit alleging a cover-up of sexual and physical abuse of children has called on Christian leaders, including Southern Baptists, to remove the disgraced minister from leadership roles…
Plan would reduce DC’s role in SBC
By Robert Dilday The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee will consider a proposal to fold the District of Columbia Baptist Convention into a larger region, reducing the number of Baptists in the nation’s capital represented on the governing boards of…
Embattled C.J. Mahaney visits SEBTS
By Bob Allen A pastor named in a class-action lawsuit alleging a cover-up of sexual and physical abuse of children warned students at a Southern Baptist Convention seminary against the “temptation to be puffed up and arrogant in attitude” because…
SBC says RAs could rival Scouting
By Bob Allen A decision by the Boy Scouts of America to drop its ban on openly gay Scouts and volunteers could prompt churches to find an alternative in Royal Ambassadors, a Southern Baptist missions education program for boys, according…