EDITOR'S NOTE: Will Hall is executive editor of the Louisiana Baptist Message (LBM). This article was first published on the LBM website here. CORRECTED, JUNE 10, TO CLARIFY INFORMATION ABOUT DR. AZ HAKEEM IN PARAGRAPH FOUR. BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) – In a stunning interview on Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Dr. Az Hakeem, who was identified as “the only psychiatrist in the UK to specialize in working psychotherapeutically with gender dysphoria patients, which he has done for 23 … [Read more...]
Stone files defamation lawsuit against Moore
EDITOR'S NOTE: Will Hall is executive editor of the Louisiana Baptist Message NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM) — The attorney for Mike Stone filed a defamation lawsuit against Russell Moore, Oct. 19, with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville, claiming libel (publication of false statements), false light, invasion of privacy (misleading and offensive portrayal) and intentional infliction of emotional distress as the causes of action. The lawsuit seeks … [Read more...]
Executive directors from six state conventions allege, repudiate NAMB’s lack of partnership
VANCOUVER, Wash. (LBM) – Executive directors representing five Western state conventions and a Midwestern one have written a passionate letter, Aug. 12, 2020, addressed to Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board, and his trustees, as well as the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee and its president, Ronnie Floyd, repudiating what they describe as a lack of partnership in the new “Strategic Cooperative Agreement” that NAMB presented to “non-South Baptist state … [Read more...]
Federal appeals court allows McRaney lawsuit against NAMB to proceed
NEW ORLEANS (LBM) – On July 16, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave Will McRaney, former executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, a procedural victory in his lawsuit against the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention “for intentional interference with business relationships, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.” The BCMD is an independent state organization of Baptist churches and the NAMB is a ministry … [Read more...]
Ken Hemphill to be SBC president nominee
ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) — Southern Baptist statesman Ken Hemphill will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention, according to an announcement issued by a group of distinguished Southern Baptists. ENTHUSIASTIC ENDORSEMENTS “Some interested Southern Baptist pastors and leaders have been thinking together for several weeks about whom God might raise up to follow Dr. Steve Gaines as our SBC president,” said David Hankins, executive director of the Louisiana Baptist … [Read more...]
Lottie on pace for historic drop
RICHMOND, Va. —The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has released data showing relatively stable Cooperative Program giving but a flagging Lottie Moon Christmas Offering that is trending toward a record single-year fall. Comparing receipts from Oct. 2016 through Mar. 2017 with totals for the same period a year ago, gifts through the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists’ primary channel for funding all national causes, are down less than one percent, or about $967,597 below … [Read more...]
After five years, is there a Great Commission Resurgence?
When the gavel dropped to end the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio, it also marked the fifth anniversary of “a vision for a Great Commission Resurgence” that was adopted by messengers during the 2010 business sessions in Orlando, Fla. In a nutshell, a blue ribbon task force – named by then SBC President Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church, Woodstock, Ga., and led by Ronnie Floyd, pastor of Cross Church, Northwest Ark., who now serves as president of … [Read more...]