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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- Fearful members. Declining church attendance. Concerned pastors. Uncertain futures. Despite dramatic changes in the life of many Hispanic congregations in Alabama with the new immigration law, the news isn't all bad. "A lot of people left," Carlos Gomez said of the Hispanic congregation he leads at First Baptist Church in Center Point. "I called them back and some of them returned. But I know of another ministry that is close to me here in town that had around 120, and now it has about 40." Reports of decreased attendance in Hispanic congregations are common since the...

Shorter University in Rome, Ga., is requiring its employees to certify that they are not gay as a condition of employment. All 200 employees of the Baptist university, located about 65 miles northwest of Atlanta, received a "personal lifestyle statement" last Wednesday, which they must sign or risk being fired. Employees must pledge to be "active members of a local church" and to abstain from, among other things, drug use, premarital sex and homosexual behavior. "I reject as acceptable all sexual activity not in agreement with the Bible, including, but not limited to, premarital sex, adultery and homosexuality," the statement...

The Southern Baptist Convention might have a new name in a few years if current president Bryant Wright gets his wish. Wright formed a task force last week that will explore the possibility of changing the name of the nation's largest Protestant denomination. Because Southern Baptists now have churches all over the world, Wright feels the name is too regional. This is not the first time a name change has been proposed. Adopting a new name has been discussed at least once a decade at the SBC's annual meeting since the 1970s but has been rejected every time. But Wright...

The number of baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention in 2010 fell by nearly 5 percent, according to the Annual Church Profile (ACP) compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources in cooperation with Baptist state conventions. Southern Baptist churches reported 332,321 baptisms in 2010, down from 349,737 in 2009, which represents a 4.98 percent decline. Total membership in 2010, reported at 16,136,044, represents a 0.15 percent decline from 2009 and is the fourth straight year of decline. ..“As we look upon fields white unto harvest, we should be ever aware that it is critical that we proclaim Christ to our neighbors and...

PHOENIX (ABP) – The president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary said June 15 that Southern Baptists need to repent of a “form of homophobia” that keeps gays and lesbians out of their churches. Albert Mohler responded during his report to the Southern Baptist Convention to a question from Peter Lumpkins, a Southern Baptist blogger, about whether comments attributed to him in a March 24 Christian Science Monitor article were accurate. Writer Jonathan Merritt, a Southern Baptist minister and well-known social critic, quoted Mohler as saying “We’ve lied about the nature of homosexuality and have practiced what can only be described...

A group of pastors came out today in support of Rev. Michael Pfleger remaining at St. Sabina Catholic Church. About two dozen ministers met at Josephine's Restaurant on the South Side and urged Cardinal Francis George not to end Pfleger's three decade-long ministry at the Auburn Gresham church. "While in the Catholic Church there is a tenure of six or 12 years, there are exceptions to that rule," said Tyrone Crider, pastor of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church. "We pray that an exception would be made for an exceptional pastor." "Father Michael Pfleger has given his life to the people at...

With the recent decision by the Supreme Court, some information came to light that I do not think is well-known. And that is, Fred Phelps ran for office 5 times... wait for it... as a DEMOCRAT! In the link there is audio of Michael Medved making this point and then a dissenting email a few days later where Medved again drives the point home. there are also links to a couple of blogs that knew this information some time ago as well as photos of similarities between leftist demonstrators and the Democratic Westboro Baptists. There are also photos of the...

GAINESVILLE - FBI agents visited today with a minister of a small Florida church that plans to burn the Quran on Sept. 11, as public safety became a paramount concern and President Barack Obama added his voice to the chorus of opposition. Elsewhere, hundreds of angry Afghans burned an American flag and chanted "Death to the Christians" to protest the planned burning of Islam's holiest text. Obama urged the Rev. Terry Jones to "listen to those better angels" and call off his plan.(continued)

Senator Harry Reid can't play the race card in his race against Sharron Angle. He wouldn't dare play the gender card. So he's playing the only face card he holds -- the religion card -- as he aims to frame Angle as a Christian zealot holding extreme notions about the federal government that put her outside the mainstream of Nevadans. A Las Vegas Review-Journal article written by Laura Myers, entitled "Angle's religious zeal criticized: Reid campaign says opponent's comments show 'holy crusade' against government," recently slapped down the religion card for the Reid Campaign. "U.S. Sen. Harry Reid's campaign criticized...

As probably happens with a lot of the people who visit Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Mike Bardon formed a spiritual impression while taking a tour there. For Bardon, however, the insight didn't have any direct bearing on the teachings and practices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for which Temple Square, the site where the Salt Lake Temple stands, is something of a religious Mecca. What Bardon felt instead was a burden, or spiritual calling, to make Utah his new home and spread his Baptist faith to anyone who would listen. "The Lord just really...

The Waldenses entered Holland in 1182 and by the year 1233 Flanders was full of them. Many of them were weavers, and Ten Cate says that at a later date all of the weaving was in the hands of the Baptists. Ypeij and Dermount say: "The Waldenses scattered in the Netherlands might be called their salt, so correct were their views and devout their lives. The Mennonites sprang from them. It is indubitable that they rejected infant baptism, and used only adult baptism" (Ypeij en Dermount, Geechieddenis der Netherlandische Hervormde Kirk, I. pp. 57, 141). The Reformation in the Netherlands...

A Baptist church was found in Augsburg, in 1525, where Hans Denck was pastor. In this city Denck was exceedingly popular, so that in a year or two the church numbered some eleven hundred members. Urbanus Rhegius, who was minister in that city at the time, says of the influence of Denck: "It increased like a canker, to the grievous injury of many souls," Augsburg became a great Baptist center. Associated with Denck at Augsburg were Balthasar Hübmaier, Ludwig Hätzer and Hans Hut. They all practiced immersion. Keller in his life of Denck says: The baptism was performed by dipping...

Authorities have positively identified an Internal Revenue Service employee killed when a plane flew into his office building Thursday, family members said today. Larry McDonald said officials from the Travis County Medical Examiners office called the family of Vernon Hunter, 68, just before noon. Hunter (pictured right) worked for the IRS for more than 20 years and is believe to have been on the fist floor of the Echelon I building in Northwest Austin when a man flew his single engine plane into the building. FBI officials said they suspect the man was Andrew Joseph Stack III (pictured below right)....

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- The Haitian judge deciding whether 10 U.S. missionaries should face trial for trying to take a busload of children out of the country said Thursday he has recommended that all be released provisionally. Judge Bernard Saint-Vil sent the recommendation to the prosecutor-general, who may agree or object. But the judge has final word on whether they go free while an investigation continues. Saint-Vil questioned on Thursday the last of a group of parents who said they willingly gave their children to the Baptist missionaries, believing the Americans would educate and care for them

Missionaries, who were accused of kidnapping, could be released Thursdaymsnbc.com news services updated less than 1 minute ago A Haitian judge has decided to release 10 U.S. missionaries accused of kidnapping 33 children and trying to spirit them out of the earthquake-stricken country, a judicial source told Reuters Wednesday. However, NBC News reported that no final decision had been made, though it's possible a decision could be made as early as Thursday. A lawyer representing one told The Associated Press he expects Judge Bernard Saint-Vil to issue his recommendation to the prosecutor Thursday. The prosecutor has the right to appeal...

Reference has already been made, in former pages, to the fact that the Waldenses practiced dipping; that this was at first the custom: of the Reformers; and some reliable testimony has been introduced to show the practice of the Baptists. The point of controversy between the Baptists and the Reformers on baptism was not dipping, but the necessity of infant baptism. There is much more available material on the form of baptism among the Baptists. That subject is now pursued further. L’Abbe Fleury, the great Roman Catholic historian, under date of 1523, gives an account of the Baptist practice. He...

There was a constant conflict between the Reformers and the Baptists on the proper subjects of baptism. At first the Reformers were disposed to take the Baptist side of the controversy and to deny the necessity of infant baptism. "The strength of the Baptist reasoning in regard to infant baptism," says Planck, the great German Protestant historian, referring to Melanchthon, "made a strong impression on his convictions." Planck continues: "The Elector, wishing to quell the controversy, dissuaded the Wittenberg theologians from discussing the subject of infant baptism, saying he could not see what benefit could arise from it, as it...

It is amazing how many names were applied, in the period of the Reformation, to the Baptists. They called each other brethren and sisters, and spoke of each other in the simplest language of affection. Their enemies called them Anabaptists because they repeated baptism when converts came from other parties. This name Anabaptist is a caricature. It damns first by faint praise and then by distortion. "The opprobrious term ‘Anabaptist’ was and is a vile slander. It was invented to conceal thought. It shrouded in a fog the grand ideals of a people loving peace and truth. The term is...

The beginnings of the Anabaptist movement are firmly rooted in the earlier centuries. The Baptists have a spiritual posterity of many ages of liberty-loving Christians. The movement was as old as Christianity; the Reformation gave an occasion for a new and varied history. The statement of Mosheim who was a learned Lutheran historian, as to the origin of the Baptists, has never been successfully attacked. He says: The origin of the sect, who from their repetition of baptism received in other communities, are called Anabaptists, but who are also denominated Mennonites, from the celebrated man to whom they owe a...

One of the leaders of the nation’s influential Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) tells Newsmax that President Obama is “very dangerous” in his economic policies and his foreign policy is causing “severe damage” to U.S. standing in the world. Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and author of the book “The Divided State of America: What Liberals and Conservatives Are Missing In The God And Country Shouting Match”, told Newsmax.TV that the cultural war is heating up. Christians must remember that God is not partisan. “And on many of the most important issues...

The Obama administration’s safe schools czar, Kevin Jennings, has accused the Baptists, the Boy Scouts and sports fans of anti-gay bias, and he has advocated a special high school for gay teens as well as gay-straight alliance clubs for every high school in America. Jennings, who was a prominent homosexual activist before being named director of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools at the U.S. Department of Education, also has called for kindergarteners to be taught to respect all sexual orientations, while insisting that “ex-gay messages” and “Christian values” are ‘misused to isolate or denigrate lesbian, gay, bisexual...

It is a beautiful peculiarity of this little people that it should it occupy so prominent a place in the history of Europe. There had long been witnesses for the truth in the A1ps. Italy, as far as Rome, all Southern France, and even the far-off Netherlands contained many Christians who counted not their lives dear unto themselves. Especially was this true in the region of the Alps. These valleys and mountains were strongly fortified by nature on account of their difficult passes and bulwarks of rocks and mountains; and they impress one as if the all-wise Creator had, from...

The funeral services for two Virginia Tech sophomores who apparently were shot to death last week in the Caldwell Fields section of the Jefferson National Forest are scheduled for today in Lynchburg. As of Sunday evening, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office still was seeking leads for the shooting, which they believe occurred either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Services for David Lee Metzler, 19, of Lynchburg and Heidi Lynn Childs, 18, of Forest will be held at Heritage Baptist Church, which both students attended. Metzler's service will be at 1 p.m., while Childs' will be at 3 p.m. Each service...

It has already been indicated that the Paulicians came from Armenia, by the way of Thrace, settled in France and Italy, and traveled through, and made disciples in, nearly all of the countries of Europe. The descent of the Albigenses has been traced by some writers from the Paulicians (Encyclopedia Britannica, I. 454. 9th edition). Recent writers hold that the Albigenses had been in the valleys of France from the earliest ages of Christianity. Prof. Bury says that "it lingered on in Southern France," and was not a "mere Bogomilism, but an ancient local survival." Mr. Conybeare thinks that it...

TASHKENT CITY, Uzbekistan (ABP) -- Authorities in Uzbekistan cracked down on Baptists after a government-sponsored news agency ran articles alleging illegal religious activity at a summer camp for children. Forum 18, a Norway-based news service that monitors alleged violations of religious freedom, reported July 28 that Pavel Peichev, head of the Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists of Middle Asia, faces criminal charges of unlawfully teaching children religion and misusing resort facilities. Local Baptists fear huge fines, confiscation of the property, imprisonment or some combination of penalties if Peichev is convicted

For critics of the Southern Baptist Convention, former President Jimmy Carter is the gift that just keeps on giving. Over the last several days, yet another round of news reports has trumpeted the news that the former president has resigned his membership in the Southern Baptist Convention. Almost a decade after he first made this announcement, his repetitive return to this theme set up a new avalanche of news reports. Reports, we might add, that are not news. Adding insult to injury, the reports are about a "resignation" that isn't even a resignation. Try explaining that to the international media....

After more than 60 years together, Jimmy Carter has announced himself at odds with the Southern Baptist Church -- and he's decided it's time they go their separate ways. Via Feministing, the former president called the decision "unavoidable" after church leaders prohibited women from being ordained and insisted women be "subservient to their husbands." Said Carter in an essay in The Age: At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions...

After more than 60 years together, Jimmy Carter has announced himself at odds with the Southern Baptist Church -- and he's decided it's time they go their separate ways. Via Feministing, the former president called the decision "unavoidable" after church leaders prohibited women from being ordained and insisted women be "subservient to their husbands."

I just read on the Stand Firm in Faith site that there as been a very tragic accident involving a church bus from the First Baptis Church of Shreveport, La. The bus was on the way to camp when the accident happened in Meridan, Mississippi. One child died at the scene and 23 others have been taken to area hospitals.

"Will the Baptist conventions come back together?" my father-in-law asked over Sunday lunch.Not in his lifetime.Most likely, not in my lifetime.And probably not until the Consummation of Time.Good question My father-in-law had a solid reason for his question. He had read my editorial about this year's Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. It describes the generation gap within the SBC and tells how the youngish leadership walloped the old guard.This is significant because the old guard comprises the remnants of the hard-line fundamentalist leadership that wrested control of the SBC from so-called moderates in a struggle that lasted from the late 1970s...

Last week’s Southern Baptist Conven­tion annual meeting in Louisville, Ky., offered a glimpse into the future — the not-so-distant future. The aging leadership of the SBC, including the Executive Committee and the various entity heads, are acknowledging that their days until retirement are numbered. Some statistics suggest they perhaps should be concerned about leaving the convention in worse shape than they found it. For the most part, these are the same leaders that came onto the scene after self-described conservatives swept aside an old guard of denominational leaders in the years following 1979. They signed inerrancy statements testifying to their...

KANSAS CITY, MO. - The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Missouri's appeal to allow the state to enforce it's law restricting protests near funerals. The law targeted a Topeka Baptist church that protests military funerals. The Westboro Baptist Church filed a lawsuit against the state after it passed two laws creating a no protest buffer zone around funerals and processions. Westboro Baptist Church out of Topeka protests the funerals saying soldiers deaths are God's punishment because of U.S. policy toward homosexuals.

THIS YEAR’S Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Annual Meeting is likely to be among its most significant in recent memory. For the first time in many years, the convention will meet in Louisville, where the Calvinism of Al Mohler and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary are holding sway. This convention happens in the shadow of a brewing controversy over the direction the convention will take in the future. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Danny Akin and SBC President Johnny Hunt have articulated a vision for the SBC’s future that has the old denominational guard feeling its first real pressure since the...

It is to be regretted that most of the information concerning the Paulicians comes through their enemies. The sources are twofold. The first source is that of the Greek writers, Photius (Adv. recentiores Manichaeans. Hamburg 1772) and Petros Sikeliotes (Historia Manichaeorum qui Pauliciani. Ingolstadt, 1604), which has long been known and was used by Gibbon in the preparation of the brilliant fifty-fourth chapter of his history. Not much has been added from that source since. The accounts are deeply prejudiced, and although Gibbon suspected the malice and poison of these writers, and laid bare much of the malignity expressed by...

At first there was unity in fundamental doctrines and practices. Step by step some of the churches turned aside from the old paths and sought out many inventions. Discipline became lax and persons of influence were permitted to follow a course of life which would not have been tolerated under the old discipline. The times had changed and some of the churches changed with the times. There were those who had itching ears and they sought after novelties. The dogma of baptismal regeneration was early accepted by many, and men sought to have their sins washed away in water rather...

The period of the ancient churches (A. D. 100-325) is much obscured. Much of the material has been lost; much of it that remains has been interpolated by Mediaeval Popish writers and translators; and all of it has been involved in much controversy. Caution must, therefore, be observed m arriving at permanent conclusions. Hasty generalizations that all Christians and churches were involved in doctrinal error must be accepted with extreme caution. Strange and horrible charges began to be current against the Christians. The secrecy of their meetings for worship was ascribed, not to its true cause, the fear of persecution,...

After our Lord had finished his work on earth, and before he had ascended into glory, he gave to his disciples the following commission: "All authority is given to me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world. Amen" (Matthew 28:18-20). Under the terms of this commission Jesus gave to his churches the authority...

In attempting to write a history of the Baptists no one is more aware of the embarrassments surrounding the subject than the author. These embarrassments arise from many sources. We are far removed from many of the circumstances under survey; the representations of the Baptists were often made by enemies who did not scruple, when such a course suited their purpose, to blacken character; and hence the testimony from such sources must be received with discrimination and much allowance made for many statements; in some instances vigilant and sustained attempts were made to destroy every document relating to these people;...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Former President Jimmy Carter implored fellow Baptists on Saturday to look beyond a range of doctrinal disputes that have split the denomination, and urged them to focus on reconciling under a common cause. Expanding the focus of a Baptist alliance he helped found, Carter said disagreements over many issues, including abortion, homosexuality and the role of women in the church, have divided Baptists and hampered the denomination.

Only after the Strongmen had torn the phone books and smashed the ice slabs did I figure out how Team Impact and their “feats of strength ministry” worked. But by then it was too late. By then my 10-year-old son had already accepted Jesus Christ as his personal lord and savior. Before we continue, I’d like to make it plain that I have no problem with Team Impact, in particular, nor the Southern Baptist Convention, in general, with which Coppell-based Team Impact is affiliated. Also, I love Jesus Christ. It’s just that I’m Catholic. We are raising our son Catholic....

WEST PAWLET, Vt. – Four years ago in this remote valley hamlet, the last eight members of the financially strapped United Church of West Pawlet voted to disband the congregation. Tad Perry remembers the wrenching vote as “one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.” But now on a nine-degree Sunday morning, a steady plume rises once again from the chimney behind the steeple. Inside, nearly 50 people singing catchy hymns with piano accompaniment help make the tiny sanctuary feel close to full. And the voice from the pulpit bespeaks what’s taking place—not only here, but in formerly...

Running a successful church requires cutting-edge marketing and branding as much as it does innovative preaching and ministry. The Fellowship at Celebration Baptist Church has learned that the hard way during the past decade as a similarly named congregation has become synonymous with the word "Celebration." As a result, the East Arlington congregation is changing its name on Thursday to FaithBridge Church. That's something church member Jaime Brasseit said she's had to pray to accept. "I liked 'Celebration,' and I kinda wish we had kept 'Baptist,' " Brasseit, 22, said after a recent Sunday morning service. But Brasseit said she...

The election of Sen. Barack Obama as the first African American president of the United States will not mark the end of the religious right. Although many in the mainstream media will write and talk about the movement's imminent demise, that demise is not likely to occur in the near, or distant, future. More relevant questions are how the religious right will behave during an Obama administration, and what steps the movement will take to revivify its disappointed, dispirited and angry ground troops. While Obama's victory was a major defeat, several religious right-backed state initiatives passed, including ballot measures banning...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Evangelist Billy Graham was hospitalized Saturday after tripping and falling over one of his dogs at his North Carolina home, a hospital spokeswoman said. The 89-year-old Graham was at Mission Hospital in Asheville with discomfort and bruising and hoped to be home later in the day, said spokeswoman Merrell Gregory. He was listed in fair condition and his physicians report that X-rays showed no broken bones, Gregory said in a news release. -Snip- The Southern Baptist minister fell late Friday at his home in Montreat, N.C. Earlier this year, Graham had elective surgery to update a shunt...

HOUSTON (BP)--About 1,500 Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers are setting up units in Texas and were expected to be operational by the end of the day Tuesday to serve victims of Hurricane Ike. The primary focus of the efforts currently is food preparation, with 39 kitchen units on site in the state. The American Red Cross has asked Southern Baptists to be ready to prepare up to 375,000 hot meals a day, while the Salvation Army has requested 125,000 meals a day, bringing the total to 500,000. In addition to the 39 feeding units, more than 40 other types of...

Previous posts in this series: Introduction - Have We a Visible Succession of Baptist Churches Down from the Apostles?Chapter 1 - The Colonial Period: Pilgrims and PuritansChapter 2 - The Banishment of Roger WilliamsChapter 3 - The Settlement of Rhode IslandChapter 4 - The Providence and Newport ChurchesChapter 5 - Chaunce, Knolly, Miles and the Swansea ChurchChapter 6 - The Boston BaptistsChapter 7 - New Centers of Baptist Influence: South Carolina - Maine - Pennsylvania - New JerseyChapter 8 - The Baptists of VirginiaChapter 9 - Baptists of Connecticut and New YorkChapter 10 - The Baptists of North Carolina, Maryland,...

Previous posts in this series: Introduction - Have We a Visible Succession of Baptist Churches Down from the Apostles?Chapter 1 - The Colonial Period: Pilgrims and PuritansChapter 2 - The Banishment of Roger WilliamsChapter 3 - The Settlement of Rhode IslandChapter 4 - The Providence and Newport ChurchesChapter 5 - Chaunce, Knolly, Miles and the Swansea ChurchChapter 6 - The Boston BaptistsChapter 7 - New Centers of Baptist Influence: South Carolina - Maine - Pennsylvania - New JerseyChapter 8 - The Baptists of VirginiaChapter 9 - Baptists of Connecticut and New YorkChapter 10 - The Baptists of North Carolina, Maryland,...

Previous posts in this series: Introduction - Have We a Visible Succession of Baptist Churches Down from the Apostles?Chapter 1 - The Colonial Period: Pilgrims and PuritansChapter 2 - The Banishment of Roger WilliamsChapter 3 - The Settlement of Rhode IslandChapter 4 - The Providence and Newport ChurchesChapter 5 - Chaunce, Knolly, Miles and the Swansea ChurchChapter 6 - The Boston BaptistsChapter 7 - New Centers of Baptist Influence: South Carolina - Maine - Pennsylvania - New JerseyChapter 8 - The Baptists of VirginiaChapter 9 - Baptists of Connecticut and New YorkChapter 10 - The Baptists of North Carolina, Maryland,...

Southern Baptists are organizing a nationwide prayer campaign to accompany their values-voter registration drive, seeking spiritual renewal for families and churches, and God's favor for public officials who are guided by the Bible. The 40/40 Prayer Vigil for Spiritual Revival and National Renewal will run from Sept. 24 through Nov. 2, two days before the general election. The daily prayers include requests for God's guidance in voting, for the election of more "godly Christians," for God to "help churches find ways to help Christians get to the polls" and for public officials to be protected "from the attacks of Satan."...

Previous posts in this series: Introduction - Have We a Visible Succession of Baptist Churches Down from the Apostles?Chapter 1 - The Colonial Period: Pilgrims and PuritansChapter 2 - The Banishment of Roger WilliamsChapter 3 - The Settlement of Rhode Island Chapter 4 - The Providence and Newport ChurchesChapter 5 - Chaunce, Knolly, Miles and the Swansea ChurchChapter 6 - The Boston BaptistsChapter 7 - New Centers of Baptist Influence: South Carolina - Maine - Pennsylvania - New JerseyChapter 8 - The Baptists of VirginiaChapter 9 - Baptists of Connecticut and New YorkChapter 10 - The Baptists of North Carolina,...