ORLANDO (BP) – North Greenville University Provost and Dean of Faculty Hunter Baker will serve as chair of the Southern Baptist Convention's Committee on Resolutions for the 2026 SBC Annual Meeting this summer. SBC President Clint Pressley made the announcement in a statement to Baptist Press. “I am so thankful for this group of joyful Southern Baptists who have agreed to serve on the Resolutions Committee this year,” said Pressley, senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in … [Read more...]
Group caught amid Iran attacks now headed back to U.S.
CAIRO, Egypt (BP) – After 17 trips to a bomb shelter over 36 hours and a man named Moses leading them into Egypt, a group of weary pastors and their wives are headed back to the United States. Members of the group led by former Send Relief President Bryant Wright had just finished taking rooftop pictures from the Old City in Jerusalem when U.S. and Israeli missiles killed many Iranian senior leadership, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian responses forced the group … [Read more...]
Bills criminalizing protests during worship services proceed through states
EDITOR'S NOTE: For more on these issues, read "Protesting: How should churches respond?" here. MONTGOMERY, Ala. (BP) – A bill that passed the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 24 and criminalizes disrupting a worship service is one of several that states are considering after a protest inside a Southern Baptist church last month. “This protects houses of worship – not just churches, but synagogues, mosques, others – from any outside group organizing to come into their building … [Read more...]
Supreme Court declines McRaney case, ending lawsuit against NAMB
WASHINGTON (BP) – The U.S. Supreme Court declined today to hear a years-long case brought by former Baptist state convention executive director Will McRaney against the North American Mission Board, upholding an appeals court’s decision to dismiss and essentially closing out the case. Two judges in a three-judge panel for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous dismissal in September. That majority decision pointed out that “church autonomy doctrine bars all of McRaney’s … [Read more...]
Major medical group comes out against gender transition for minors
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (BP) – The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has issued a statement recommending its members delay gender-reassignment surgeries for patients until the age of 19. The statement cited adolescents’ developing emotional and mental states, juxtaposed with the permanence of such surgeries, for a “low certainty” that transitioning at that age brought “a favorable risk-benefit ratio.” The position was approved by the board of directors for the ASPS and its research … [Read more...]
Proposed CP allocation budget moves IMB to 51 percent
NASHVILLE (BP) – SBC Executive Committee members voted today (Feb. 17) to approve a 2026-27 Cooperative Program allocation budget that places 51 percent of those gifts with the International Mission Board, a recommendation first approved in 2010 with the implementation of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. Since 2014, the IMB’s allocation has held steady at 50.41 percent. That was the third year of incremental decreases in the Executive Committee’s allocation to fulfill the … [Read more...]
Pressley: Southern Baptist relationships aren’t always easy, but worth it
NASHVILLE (BP) – Life as a Southern Baptist includes working among others for a goal, SBC President Clint Pressley told Executive Committee trustees and guests. And even when getting there can seem more like a meandering line than a straight one, it still brings reasons to celebrate. “We’re strong in the Southern Baptist Convention,” he said Monday night, Feb. 16 at the BNA Hilton adjacent to the Nashville airport. “We’re not perfect. We don’t overlook problems. But it’s OK to say we’re … [Read more...]
ERLC trustees release commitment statement, shorten president list
NASHVILLE (BP) – A recently-released list of commitments by trustees of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission to Southern Baptists was drafted over the last month, chairman Scott Foshie told Baptist Press, but marks the latest step in a longer process. Those commitments were approved at a special-called trustee meeting Jan. 30 and published yesterday. There are three, with the first two aimed at rebuilding trust through engagement and relationships and the third for “representing … [Read more...]
Southern Baptists respond to winter damage amid frigid temperatures
NASHVILLE (BP) – Southern Baptist Disaster Relief units and Send Relief centers are responding to last weekend’s cold and lingering freezing temperatures, with more than 700 volunteers engaged in numerous efforts, including feeding, warming centers and cleanup units. The I-20 corridor along northern Louisiana experienced severe winter conditions through freezing rain and ice. As of 9 p.m. last night (Jan. 27), approximately 1,300 poles, 4,660 spans of wire and 310 transformers suffered … [Read more...]
Southern Baptist relief efforts battle cold, snow and ice
NASHVILLE (BP) – Until temperatures rise high enough and long enough to make roads more accessible, response to a winter storm stretching from Texas to the Northeast is going to have a more local focus, Southern Baptist leaders told Baptist Press, Monday (Jan. 26). “Send Relief is responding in different ways, alongside supporting Southern Baptist Disaster Relief in those states,” said Josh Benton, Send Relief’s vice president for North American ministry efforts. Five of Send Relief’s … [Read more...]
Arrests announced in Minneapolis church protest
WASHINGTON (BP) – At least three arrests have been made among those who disrupted a Southern Baptist church service Sunday, Jan. 18, to protest ICE activities in Minneapolis, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday morning (Jan. 22). “Minutes ago at my direction, [Homeland Security] and [FBI] agents executed an arrest in Minnesota,” Bondi posted on X on the arrest of Nekima Levy Armstrong. Armstrong is a Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney and activist who appeared on … [Read more...]
Trump, pro-life leaders at odds in recent developments
NASHVILLE (BP) – The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission released a letter today (Jan. 16) calling for President Trump’s action on recent issues that have brought friction between the pro-life movement and an administration historically supportive of it. The letter is signed by interim ERLC President Gary Hollingsworth, who begins by stating that the sanctity of life “remains a preeminent priority” among millions of Southern Baptists, who, coincidentally, will observe Sanctity of … [Read more...]
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