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New rules also loosen restrictions on baptism, divorce, and parents of teens. For more than a decade, the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board (IMB) disqualified candidates who spoke in tongues or who had been baptized in churches that disagreed with the convention’s view of baptism. Similar rules barred divorced people or those with teenagers from being missionaries. That changed Wednesday, when the IMB’s trustees, at the prompting of their new president David Platt, approved a new, simplified set of rules for the agency’s more than 4,800 missionaries. Missionary candidates must affirm the doctrines found in the Baptist Faith...

Here it is, the first television ad of the 2016 presidential campaign, courtesy of the first official presidential candidate, Ted Cruz. No beating around the bush here—we get a mention of Jesus in the very first sentence:(VIDEO-AT-LINK) "Were it not for the transformative love of Jesus Christ, I would have been raised by a single mom without my father in the house. God's blessing has been on America from the very beginning of this nation. Over and over again when we faced impossible odds, the American people rose to the challenge. This is our fight, and that is why I'm...

An association of Southern Baptist churches in Alabama voted March 16 to dismiss a church over its pastor’s support of same-sex marriage. The executive board of Madison Baptist Association voted 74-5 to withdraw fellowship from Weatherly Heights Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala., according to a statement to media.The voluntary association of 85 churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention investigated Weatherly Heights, which is primarily affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, after news reports that an unpaid staff member ordained by the church officiated at a same-sex wedding Feb. 9.Discussions revealed that the church’s pastor, David Freeman, also does not...

Washington, D.C. (July 29, 2009) – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Islamic extremists killed a pastor and razed five churches in the city of Maiduguri, Nigeria, on July 27. The extremists also attacked two churches in the Nigerian city of Potiskum. Yakubu Sabo, a husband and father of seven, was hacked to death with a machete by members of a violent Islamic militant group know as Boko Haram (which means “education is prohibited”). Sabo pastored a Church of Christ congregation in Maiduguri. Deeper Life Church, Evangelical Mission, and Church of the Brethren are three of five other churches...

On April 16, the United Muslim-Christian Forum (UMCF) held an interfaith event in Owego, New York, featuring Christian and Muslim speakers, including the mayor of the town. Its Web site proudly hosts a photo of Binghamton Mayor Matthew T. Ryan holding a UMCF sign. Far from the model of tolerance it casts itself as, the UMCF is a front for an anti-Semitic, Islamic extremist group named Muslims of the Americas (MOA), and the keynote speaker warned that Allah will destroy whoever supports Koran burnings, and possibly the entire country. The MOA was exposed in the Christian Action Network’s (CAN) 2009...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)It's not something you see every day, a horse in a wedding dress standing outside the federal courthouse. "I thought it was laughable and I believe he was going for a ridiculous protest and he certainly got one," says Eddie Outlaw, LGBT advocate. Reverend Edward James of Bertha Chapel Missionary Baptist Church dressed his horse, Charlotte, in a makeshift wedding dress to protest same-sex marriage. "The horse is to show the ridiculous idea of two men getting married," says James. James says after a federal decision was made in November to lift the ban on same-sex marriage in the state,...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Baptists on Tuesday chose to sever ties with a Louisville church that is open to performing same-sex marriages. Baptist leaders from around the state gathering in Bowling Green for the Kentucky Baptist Convention's annual meeting voted overwhelmingly to end their longstanding relationship with Crescent Hill Baptist Church. The church's pastor, the Rev. Jason Crosby, has said the church is open to performing same-sex marriages and ordaining gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual members.

Robert Jeffress on the Implosion of America.

NWhen Southern Baptists convened a national conference here this week to discuss issues of human sexuality, bringing conservative evangelicals and LGBT Christian activists into the same ballroom was a recipe ripe for potential fireworks. Perhaps the most shocking thing was how few fireworks there were. The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission was clear: Sex is reserved between a man and a woman within the bonds in marriage. And openly gay evangelicals in attendance were equally clear: Homosexuality is not incompatible with Christianity. No concessions were made, but leaders on both sides expressed surprise at how the two...

Contractors have taken on the huge task of sheltering thousands of unaccompanied child migrants In the late afternoon of July 9, Air Force One touched down at Love Field in Dallas. President Barack Obama ducked into a private room at the airport for a discussion about the crisis of undocumented children crossing the southwest border. Assembled around a wooden table were top Texas officials, including Governor Rick Perry and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, as well as the leaders of several faith-based charities. One of them was a man so anonymous, the White House pool report misspelled his name. Kevin Dinnin...

As reported earlier today by Kristinn Taylor… The Obama administration has awarded a $50 million contract to a charitable group to buy a Texas resort hotel and transform it in to a 600 bed facility for juvenile illegal aliens. The beautiful Palm Aire resort and hotel has an indoor Olympic sized pool and an outdoor pool.  Free Wi-Fi and cable TV are included in the simply decorated guest rooms. The Palm Aire Hotel and Suites is set to be sold to Baptist Child & Family Services (BCFS) operating under a federal contract, pending local government approval, according to reports from Weslaco,...

Forget decades of scientific studies and transgender people’s own lives—the Southern Baptist Convention has gone ahead and decided gender is only about your junk. “Gender” refers to one’s felt, and societally constructed, sense of being male, female, or somewhere in between. As understood by a generation of psychologists, sociologists, and other scientists, it is distinct from sex, which has to do with biology, genitalia, and genetics. Put roughly, sex is between your legs. Gender is between your ears.

I believe that the show "19 Kids and Counting" is a very wholesome show, and more than worthy of watching. This said, after the book, "Growing Up Duggar" came out, and after perusing it, I do believe that parts that talk abut hair lengths, clothing choices, etc, do perhaps need some discussion, given that there are some scriptural references stated within the book. And in reply: 1.) 1 Peter 3: 3-13 says: "Whose adorning let it no be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel. But let it be...

Southern Baptists will be heading for Baltimore in just a few days, and the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention is to be held in a city that has not hosted the convention since 1940. This time, Baptists attending the meeting will face an issue that would not have been imaginable just a few years ago, much less in 1940 — a congregation that affirms same-sex relationships.Just days before the convention, news broke that a congregation in suburban Los Angeles has decided to affirm same-sex sexuality and relationships. In an hour-long video posted on the Internet, Pastor Danny Cortez...

Some Christian denominations around the U.S. have been slowly warming to the idea of gay marriage. A few have even made an about-face. Not so with the country's largest protestant group, Southern Baptists. The Southern Baptist Convention still preaches that marriage can only be between one man and one woman. But some pastors are softening their message. A Change Of ToneThe Southern Baptist Convention held a gathering of pastors at its Nashville headquarters in April. For an organization that has previously used opposition to gay marriage as a rallying point, statements here from church leaders, like Kevin Smith of Kentucky,...

NASHVILLE (BP) -- The 100th anniversary of Jehovah's Witnesses' prediction that history would end in 1914 presents an opportunity for leading members of the group to faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, a Southern Baptist expert on Christian sects and cults said. Christians' "first task" in sharing the Gospel with Jehovah's Witnesses is helping them "put [their official publications] away and then deal with the Bible alone," Robert Stewart, professor of philosophy and theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press. "What we need is evidence -- evidence that the Watchtower Society [Jehovah's Witnesses' central organization] has...

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush is reaching out to evangelical leaders as he considers a 2016 presidential run, and in early May, he will meet privately with Russell Moore, one of the country’s most prominent Southern Baptists. Moore, a frequent presence on television and at theological conferences, heads the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, which has more than 16 million members. Moore and an aide to Bush have confirmed the session, which will take place at Bush’s office in Miami. Bush, who has played down the idea that he is exploring...

Tallahassee, Fla. Pastor Dr. R. B. Holmes, whose leadership against hazing and the infamous "stand your ground laws", has announced his candidacy for the presidency of the National Baptist Convention USA., Inc. At a National Press Club announcement last week, Holmes called on the Black church to arise and take back its historic role in fighting social justice issues. "The Black church has become too quiet, too passive, too disconnected when it comes to challenging policies programs and persons that degrade and devastate our people" said Holmes, flanked by dozens of church and community leaders. He also announced the formation...

On March 22, NPR flagged this comment by Jimmy Carter:“The fact that the Catholic Church, for instance, prohibits women from serving as priests or even deacons gives a kind of a permission to male people all over the world, that well, if God thinks that women are inferior, I’ll treat them as inferiors. If she is my wife, I can abuse her with impunity, or if I’m an employer, I can pay female employees less salary.”Carter said practically the same thing on Charlie Rose on March 24 (it was reaired last night), and on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on March 24.Bill...

On Tuesday, Breitbart TV, former president Jimmy Carter stepped forward to remove all doubt as to whether he remains the implacable horse’s ass he has been since his days in the White House. In this brief video, Carter suggests Hillary, once elected president, might be “embarrassed” to pursue a strong campaign in favor of women’s rights issues given that she is also a female. Of course, she might also be criticized for bias, though certainly NOT by our national media. (1) And to make his point, Carter offered the example of Barack Obama who he apparently believes to have been...