WASHINGTON (BP) – Prayer for America's leaders and reports of a pastors' meeting with Vice President Mike Pence were among the components of worship in some Southern Baptist churches April 15. The prayer times and reports followed an April 11 meeting involving Pence and several dozen pastors and their wives in Washington for the Mega Metro Conference, an annual gathering for pastors of Southern Baptist churches with average worship attendance of at least 3,000 or average Sunday School … [Read more...]
Posthumous conception raises ‘host of ethical issues’
NASHVILLE (BP) -- The legal and moral propriety of conceiving a child with a dead person's egg or sperm is among the latest fronts being discussed in bioethics. In Ireland, legislation is under consideration that would permit reproductive cells from deceased individuals to be used by their spouses or partners to conceive children posthumously, according to media reports. The Irish legislature's Joint Committee on Health discussed the bill once in January and again in February, a … [Read more...]
Evidence cited for Christ’s resurrection
NASHVILLE (BP) – Did Jesus really rise from the dead? It’s a question asked and answered each Easter in news reports, television documentaries and personal conversations. This year, two Southern Baptists who train others to defend the faith have offered their thoughts on the best way to answer. Rob Phillips, who leads apologetics for the Missouri Baptist Convention, pointed to the “minimal facts argument,” which defends the resurrection using only evidence “considered virtually … [Read more...]
EC exec. VP Augie Boto named interim president
NASHVILLE (BP) -- D. August (Augie) Boto has been named interim president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee. Meeting in Nashville April 4, the EC officers acted according to EC Bylaw 6 in tapping Boto for leadership following the March 27 retirement of former EC President Frank S. Page, who cited a "personal failing" in announcing his immediate departure. The EC's five officers also granted Boto "the option to appoint an interim EC presidential ambassador during … [Read more...]
American pastor charged with ‘terrorism’ in Turkey
IZMIR, Turkey (BP) -- American pastor Andrew Brunson has been indicted in Turkey on charges of terrorism. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) claims the charges amount to an admission "that Turkey considers sharing the Gospel an 'act of terrorism.'" "The 62-page indictment, wholly lacking merit, provides no evidence regarding criminal action by Pastor Andrew, which comes as no surprise," the ACLJ stated in a March 20 news release. "Pastor Andrew, who has lived in Turkey for 23 … [Read more...]
Abstinence ed could benefit from HHS tweaks
WASHINGTON (BP) -- Tweaks to a federal grant program that allots $260 million to family planning, mostly for lower-income Americans, have drawn praise from advocates of abstinence-based sex education and criticism from Planned Parenthood. Among the tweaks at issue, this year's grant announcement for Title X Family Planning Services Grants encourages applicants to consider informing teens of the "benefits of delaying sex." Another change this year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human … [Read more...]
New Trump transgender military policy ‘likely’ to stand
WASHINGTON (BP) -- The Trump administration has issued a new directive that permits transgender military service only "under certain limited circumstances." The policy tweak could render moot legal challenges to President Trump's previous ban of transgender troops, says a former military attorney. A presidential memo released late Friday (March 23) revoked Trump's August 2017 directive -- which has been blocked by multiple federal court decisions -- and replaced it with a policy "that … [Read more...]
Danny Wood to be SBC Pastors’ Conf. nominee
DALLAS (BP) -- Danny Wood, pastor of Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors' Conference, according to an announcement by Texas pastor Gregg Matte. Matte, pastor of Houston's First Baptist Church, told Baptist Press today (March 7) Wood "has shined with integrity, love and wisdom" through more than 20 years at his current pastorate. "With the Pastors' Conference and Southern Baptist Convention being … [Read more...]
Trump’s faith focus of book, advisors’ reflections
WASHINGTON (BP) -- Three Southern Baptist members of an informal evangelical advisory council for President Trump have echoed the assessment of a new book on the president's faith: he seems to possess a growing eagerness for spiritual knowledge. Those advisors -- Ronnie Floyd, Jack Graham and Richard Land -- also say they have witnessed believers share the Gospel with Trump on multiple occasions. They noted that most of the president's evangelical advisors have not hesitated to speak … [Read more...]
Pastors’ Conf. announces 2018 speakers, theme
DALLAS (BP) -- "Fulfill Your Ministry!" will be the theme addressed by a diverse lineup of speakers at this year's Southern Baptist Convention Pastors' Conference June 10-11 in Dallas. Pastors' Conference President H.B. Charles Jr. announced the theme, drawn from 2 Timothy 4:5, and speakers, half of whom are non-Anglo, late last week in a blog post. Five African American preachers will join one Hispanic preacher and six Anglos. "The goal of the conference is to challenge and encourage … [Read more...]
George W. Bush: Billy Graham ‘changed my life’
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (BP) -- With Billy Graham's body scheduled to lie in honor this week in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, former President George W. Bush paid tribute to the late evangelist in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, writing, "He changed my life." "God's work within me began in earnest with Billy's outreach," Bush wrote in the Journal Feb. 23. "His care and his teachings were the real beginning of my faith walk -- and the start of the end of my drinking. I couldn't have given … [Read more...]
Billy Graham’s Southern Baptist ties highlighted
MONTREAT, N.C. (BP) – While Billy Graham was widely known for working across denominational lines, he also was more involved in his own denomination – the Southern Baptist Convention – than many may realize. Graham, who died Feb. 21, spoke at 13 SBC annual meetings between 1951 and 1995, served as a trustee of two SBC entities, and, including references to two institutions and a professorship named in his honor, his name has been mentioned in every SBC Annual since 1951. He even was … [Read more...]
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