NASHVILLE (BP) – While the Southern Baptist Convention’s Committee on Nominations met March 16-17 in Nashville to discuss potential members of boards and standing committees, a subcommittee of the International Mission Board was embarking on a study of trustee representation from states and territories with decreasing numbers of Southern Baptists. At the IMB – and some other SBC entities – states and territories lose trustee representation when their number of Southern Baptist church … [Read more...]
CP escrow study set to begin
NASHVILLE (BP) – With an ad hoc committee of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee set to begin its study of churches' escrowing Cooperative Program money, EC chairman Stephen Rummage says the study was occasioned in part by the notable volume of contacts the EC has received regarding the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. ERLC President Russell Moore told Baptist Press the entity is "a servant of our churches" and "happy to work with the Executive … [Read more...]
SBC Executive Committee to investigate CP escrowing
NASHVILLE (BP) – Amid continuing discussion of churches’ escrowing or withholding Cooperative Program funds, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee launched two efforts to study the issue at its Feb. 20-21 meeting in Nashville. The EC also authorized its officers to study the feasibility of selling the SBC Building in downtown Nashville. The EC declined to recommend amending Article III of the SBC Constitution to list racial discrimination as evidence a church is not in … [Read more...]
Prestonwood escrows CP funds, cites ERLC actions
PLANO, Texas (BP) – A Dallas-area megachurch has decided to escrow Cooperative Program funds temporarily in order to evaluate future support of Southern Baptist Convention causes. At issue are what the congregation calls "various significant positions taken by the leadership of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission that do not reflect the beliefs and values of many in the Southern Baptist Convention," according to a statement the church released to Louisiana's Baptist Message … [Read more...]
Platt apologizes for ‘divisive’ IMB amicus brief
ONTARIO, Calif. (BP) -- International Mission Board President David Platt has apologized to Southern Baptists for the divisive nature of an amicus brief the IMB joined last May in support of a New Jersey's Islamic society's right to build a mosque. "I apologize to Southern Baptists for how distracting and divisive this has been," Platt said Feb. 15 during a meeting with Baptist state paper editors in Ontario, Calif. "I can say with full confidence," he said, "that in the days ahead, … [Read more...]
Anti-Planned Parenthood rallies call for defunding
COLUMBIA, Mo. (BP) -- Pro-life demonstrators held rallies Feb. 11 at more than 220 Planned Parenthood clinics in 45 states to advocate withdrawing government funds from America's largest abortion provider. Meanwhile, a petition drive led by Southern Baptists' Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has garnered nearly 8,000 signatures on a letter asking Congress "to support the budget resolution that defunds Planned Parenthood and redirects funding to federally qualified health … [Read more...]
William Carey U. tornado cleanup draws Bapt. support
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (BP) -- William Carey University will move students back to its Hattiesburg, Miss., campus and begin the spring trimester less than a month after an EF-3 tornado damaged nearly all of its 30 buildings Jan. 21. Five buildings will have to be demolished, according to a Feb. 6 university news release, but "several classroom buildings" and housing for 739 students will open Feb. 20. Amid the cleanup and rebuilding effort, 12 other colleges and universities either have … [Read more...]
Trump immigration order sparks biblical analysis
WASHINGTON (BP) -- With President Trump's travel ban from seven predominantly-Muslim countries on hold at least temporarily, some Christians are evaluating biblical teaching on immigration and refugees. On one side of the debate, the National Association of Evangelicals' World Relief arm is helping to draft a letter signed by hundreds of pastors asking Trump to rethink the travel ban. Other Christians have emphasized the need for stringent border security along with compassion toward … [Read more...]
Assisted suicide: N.M., Hawaii bills push envelope
SANTA FE, N.M. (BP) -- Legislators in 15 U.S. states are considering proposals to legalize assisted suicide, with a leading patients' rights group flagging bills in New Mexico and Hawaii as particularly concerning. The other 13 states considering assisted suicide are Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah and Wyoming, according to the Patients Rights Council (PRC), a group that opposes assisted … [Read more...]
Mosque case prompts IMB policy tweak
NASHVILLE (BP) – Ongoing discussion of a federal court case concerning religious liberty for Muslims has prompted the resignation of an International Mission Board trustee and a revision of the IMB's process for submitting friend of the court briefs. Dean Haun, pastor of First Baptist Church in Morristown, Tenn., resigned from the IMB trustee board in November based on his conviction the IMB should not have joined a friend of the court brief last May supporting the Islamic Society of … [Read more...]
Baptists involved with inauguration
WASHINGTON (BP) – The participation of at least five Southern Baptist pastors in inaugural activities for President Donald Trump continues a tradition of prayer, Scripture and references to God surrounding presidential inaugurations dating back to George Washington. Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress preached today (Jan. 20) at a private worship service for the families of Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at St. John’s Church near the White House. The service is a pre-inauguration tradition … [Read more...]
Paul Powell, former Annuity Board pres., dies
TYLER, Texas (BP) -- Paul Powell, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Annuity Board, died Dec. 28 following a stroke earlier in the month. He was 83. In addition to leading the Annuity Board (later renamed GuideStone Financial Resources) from 1990-97, Powell pastored Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, 17 years; served as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas in the mid-1980s; chaired Baylor University's board of regents; and became dean of … [Read more...]
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