FIRST-PERSON: The church, getting its 'hands dirty'
5:30
BARRE, Vt. (BP)--When Jesus walked among us He was often criticized by the religious elite for spending too much time with sinners. The way Jesus responded to these criticisms was to use a metaphor about health and...
Baptist pioneer Helen Driscoll dies at 93
5:30
NEW ORLEANS (BP)--Helen Driscoll, one of the first female graduates of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary as well as a trailblazing Christian educator, has died at 93.Driscoll died Dec. 6 in Metarie, La., in the...
High court takes Christian students' case
5:30
WASHINGTON (BP)--The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether a state university may deny recognition to a student religious organization that requires its leaders and members to affirm its beliefs.The high court...
Facing defeat, N.J. 'gay marriage' vote put off
5:30
TRENTON, N.J. (BP)--Supporters of "gay marriage" suffered another setback in the Northeast when a much-anticipated vote on the issue in the New Jersey Senate was cancelled, apparently due to a lack of support.The vote...
China pastor gets 15 years in prison for media interviews
5:30
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A Uyghur house church pastor in China's Xinjiang region has been sentenced to 15 years in prison -- the most severe sentence possible -- for granting media interviews outside of China.Alimjan...
Missions urgency sounded at seminary
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NEW ORLEANS (BP)--"I'm asking you to lay your 'yes' on the altar."Gordon Fort, International Mission Board vice president of global strategy, speaking during New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's Global Missions...
Chapel construction relies on volunteers
5:30
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary leaders are in the midst of planning the construction of a new chapel complex -- one of the largest projects in MBTS history encompassing a welcome center,...
Volunteers stretch their comfort zones
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP)--Next year, Gloria Mills is going to bring her husband and grandchildren to FamilyFEST.Mills, director of the Acteens missions education group at First Baptist Church in Henderson, Texas, took a...
5 basics for planning a mission trip
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ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--Good mission projects don't just happen. Following a few simple guidelines will help make the experience meaningful to on-mission volunteers as well as the people they serve.Here are fundamentals...
Missions: the ultimate life-changing road trip
5:30
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--Volunteering in short-term missions is one of the most effective ways believers can mobilize with far-reaching results. It also can be a life-changing experience, altering the way you view the...
Survey: Americans mix and match religions
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When it comes to religion, many Americans like the mix-and-match, build-your-own approach. Large numbers attend services of traditions other than their own and blend Christianity with Eastern and New Age beliefs, a...
Atheists at Christmas: Eat, drink and be wary
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Angie O'Neill recently moved into a new apartment complex for seniors and she's trying to make new friends. But Christmas is a tough time of year for an atheist. "All the planned activities at this time of year revolve...
FIRST-PERSON: Sunday School is a team effort
5:00
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--With all the talk about football this time of year, it seems appropriate to point out that a great "team effort" shouldn't be reserved only for athletic fields.When I'm speaking to a group of...
Baltimore law targets pregnancy centers
5:00
BALTIMORE (BP)--The city of Baltimore has enacted a law that pro-life advocates say discriminates against pregnancy help centers.The bill requires pregnancy help centers to display signs saying they do not provide...
Appalachian partnership marks 10 years
5:00
HURRICANE, W.Va. (BP)--Winding roads and switchback curves punctuated by tiny hamlets mark the landscape of Appalachia -- a 205,000-square-mile, mountainous stretch from Alabama to New York. The region covers all of...
SBC PRESIDENT: Jan. 31, a day of prayer for the Southern Baptist Convention
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WOODSTOCK, Ga. (BP)--We live in unprecedented times, with Christian and moral foundations rapidly crumbling before our very eyes. Meanwhile, many Christian churches, which should be a mighty force ready to spread salt...
LieuLieu is one of the 'lucky' ones
5:00
WENCHUAN, China (BP)--No warning sounded before the ground began to shudder. One minute, the kindergartners were inside the building, pulling out their Chinese literature books. The next instant, an earthquake of...
Therapy helps Sichuan children, teachers
5:00
WENCHUAN, China (BP)--Schoolchildren in China's Sichuan province -- which was devastated by a massive earthquake 19 months ago -- have new opportunities to experience full and meaningful lives, thanks in part to a...
Pro-life groups working to filibuster health care bill
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!P>WASHINGTON (BP)--Having seen an amendment lose that would have prevented the Senate health care bill from funding abortions, the nation's leading pro-life groups say they'll now urge senators to defeat the overall...
Religion News in Brief
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Russia's highest court has upheld a ruling that halts the activities of a regional branch of Jehovah's Witnesses and bans dozens of its publications. In September, a court in Rostov-on-Don had outlawed the group's...
Episcopal lesbian bishop calls election liberating
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The lesbian priest who was elected assistant bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles said Tuesday that she was upset by claims that her role in the church is divisive. The Rev. Mary Glasspool said that she was...
Senate kills pro-life amendment on health care
6:00
WASHINGTON (BP)--The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to table -- and thereby kill -- an amendment that would have barred federal funds in health-care reform from paying for abortions.The 54-45 vote to table the amendment...
FIRST-PERSON: Government-run health care by stealth
5:15
WASHINGTON (BP)--Liberals have nearly achieved their decades-long goal of taking over health care in the United States. The House passed its plan by a vote of 220-215. The vote was close, but close was all the liberals...
Land among conservative honorees
5:15
WASHINGTON (BP)--Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land was among the conservative leaders honored during the first Weyrich Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C.The president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission...
Women’s Forum offers ideas to leaders
5:15
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Opposition, cultural trends and supernatural faith were among the topics set before 600 women at this year's Women's Leadership Forum sponsored by the LifeWay Women ministry of LifeWay Christian...
N.J. 'gay marriage' bill advances to full Senate but may not have votes
5:15
TRENTON, N.J. (BP)--A bill that would make New Jersey the sixth state to legalize "gay marriage" squeaked through a Senate committee Monday and will be debated in the full body Thursday in what is expected to be a close...
Parents urged to nurture college bound
5:15
BRYAN, Texas (BP)--The story of Abby Johnson is an example of the subtle atheism that often snares collegians.Not well-grounded in her faith or connected to a church or a campus ministry, Johnson was a freshman at Texas...
Former Planned Parenthood director details turn of heart
5:15
BRYAN, Texas (BP)--Abby Johnson had never felt so alone. Sitting in her Planned Parenthood office and weeping, Johnson, who was raised Southern Baptist, knew God had called her to leave her job as director of the...
FIRST-PERSON: A nativity a day
4:30
INDIANAPOLIS (BP)--Looking for a way to keep Christ in your Christmas celebration this season? Try this Christian version of The Twelve Days of Christmas.1) Purchase a nativity scene with 12 separate pieces. It can be...
Utah-Idaho Baptists increase CP 3.5%
4:30
MERIDIAN, Idaho (BP)--Messengers to the 45th annual meeting of the Utah-Idaho Southern Baptist Convention voted to increase the percentage of Cooperative Program receipts they forward for national and international...
N.Y. convention marks 40th year
4:30
JOHNSON CITY, N.Y. (BP)--The 40th annual meeting of the Baptist Convention of New York was held in conjunction with the Davis College Leadership Forum and homecoming on the campus of the Baptist-affiliated school in...
RESOURCE: Parents of preschoolers get their own Sunday School class
4:30
BATON ROUGE, La. (BP)--One person saw the need and another person saw the opportunity, but it was the Sunday School teacher equipped with the right curriculum who brought the vision into focus.Deleece Nichols, daycare...
IMB launches CommissionStories magazine
4:30
RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--A new publication, CommissionStories, will be released this month by the International Mission Board.The quarterly IMB publication will focus on today's issues facing international missions,...
Son's health needs spark medical ministry
4:30
HOUSTON (BP)--Medical student John Robert Kamguru Githinji grew up in Kenya where poverty and conflict stirred his parents to consider where to send him for a better life.They decided on a one-way ticket from Nairobi to...
Denominations' support of abortion in health care 'tragic'
4:30
WASHINGTON (BP)--While evangelical and Catholic leaders have been working tirelessly in recent weeks to make sure any health care bill does not include federal funding of abortions, leaders of the nation's mainline...
Catholic sisters challenge Vatican investigation
5:29
Leaders of a significant number of the nation's Roman Catholic sisters are challenging aspects of a Vatican investigation of their communities, declining to answer questions they say are ambiguous, inappropriate and out...
FIRST-PERSON: It's not all about love
3:15
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following column addresses issues of homosexuality and is written to inform adults. It contains descriptions of the Folsom Street Fair, an annual sexually charged, perverse event in San Francisco with...
FIRST-PERSON: Bad news & eternity
3:15
RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--We have always thought of the Gospel as good news. In fact, the Greek word evangelion, which is translated "Gospel," literally means "good news." And certainly the fact that Jesus Christ died and...
Baptist state conventions remain pro-family, evangelistic
3:15
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Pro-family issues remain the most often cited concern in resolutions adopted at the 41 state Baptist convention meetings. Prayer for the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force and concern for...
23 Baptist state conventions cut budgets; 12 raise Cooperative Program gifts
3:15
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Over half of the state Baptist conventions have decreased their budgets for the coming year, according to reports from their annual meetings. And yet, six of the 23 conventions making cuts are...
CULTURE DIGEST: Creation Museum focuses on Christmas; DVD player edits bad content
3:15
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The Creation Museum, a ministry of Answers in Genesis, is offering a special planetarium presentation called "The Christmas Star," which addresses the "remarkable astronomic event that occurred at...
'Gay marriage,' legal in N.J. by Christmas?
3:15
TRENTON, N.J. (BP)--Just days after suffering another setback in the liberal Northeast, "gay marriage" supporters could get back on track in New Jersey Monday when a bill that could become law by Christmas will be...
Amends. could mandate abortion coverage
3:15
WASHINGTON (BP)--U.S. Senate votes on two health-care reform amendments Dec. 3 could result in private insurance plans being required to provide abortion coverage.Senators approved, in a 61-39 roll call vote, an...
Global warming alarmism 'fails the tests,' scholars say
3:15
WASHINGTON (BP)--A group of evangelical Christian scholars has issued a challenge to "global warming alarmism," releasing a call to "truth, prudence and protection of the poor" as governments consider policies to combat...
Climategate reveals 'undercurrent of elitism'
3:15
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Some of the e-mails within the controversy known as Climategate reveal an "undercurrent of elitism" that many skeptics of manmade global warming have claimed existed among the leading voices on...
FIRST-PERSON: A (bad) marriage made in D.C.
5:00
WASHINGTON (BP)--More than 400,000 residents of the nation's capital are eligible to exercise their right to vote -- but not on marriage. On that issue of far-reaching consequences, District of Columbia voters have been...
Minn.-Wis. Baptists cut 2 staff positions
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WAUWATOSA, Wis. (BP)--Messengers to the annual meeting of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention approved the elimination of two of 10 staff positions in the midst of continuing financial challenges.Meeting Oct....
Ohio Baptists plant 29 churches
5:00
MANSFIELD, Ohio (BP)--With the theme "That All May Hear," messengers to the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio convened for the 56th annual meeting at the Mid-Ohio Conference Center in Mansfield Nov. 4-5.Messengers...
Anne Graham Lotz downplays religion
5:00
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--In the aftermath of 9/11, religions in America took a front page position, and Anne Graham Lotz felt burdened to convey the message that the one true God is not interested in religion."We've...
New Bible captures Adrian Rogers' legacy
5:00
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (BP)--Adrian Rogers' legacy of real-world, lived-out faith in Jesus Christ will be preserved for many generations that never had the opportunity to sit under his teaching, the CEO of Love Worth Finding...