BAPTIST PRESS NOTE: Sunday, Feb. 11, is Racial Reconciliation Sunday in the Southern Baptist Convention. Striving for racial reconciliation was costly for some Southern Baptist pastors in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. It cost Jack Kwok his property, Paul Turner a beating by angry segregationists and Thomas Holmes his pastorate. But Kwok, now executive director […]
In 1845, at the Southern Baptist Convention’s founding, approximately 1 in 3 Southern Baptist church members was African-American. By 1900, there were virtually no black Southern Baptists. Today, about 1 in 5 Southern Baptist churches is predominantly non-Anglo, including some 3,400 predominately African-American congregations. The story behind those numbers, historians say, is a remarkable narrative […]
Ken Hemphill, an administrator at North Greenville University and a former Southern Baptist Convention seminary president, will be nominated for SBC president, a coalition of Southern Baptists announced Feb. 1 via a Baptist state paper. “We desire to elect a man who is a Southern Baptist through and through, values our understanding of the gospel, […]
Two years after withdrawing from a closely contested election for Southern Baptist Convention president, North Carolina pastor J.D. Greear once again will be nominated for SBC president, Florida pastor Ken Whitten announced today Jan. 29. Greear, 44, “is all about what Southern Baptists have been all about,” Whitten, pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, […]
A lawsuit alleging decades of sexual abuse by retired Texas state judge Paul Pressler has named a Southern Baptist Convention entity among its co-defendants. Following multiple media reports on the Oct. 18 suit, Pressler’s legal team released a statement Dec. 12 to Baptist Press, in which attorney Ted Tredennick called the allegations “frivolous.” Pressler — […]
As worship pastor Andrew Lucius selects songs for Christmas worship, he is considering specific needs in the Georgia congregation he serves. Among his conclusions: Singing only the first verse of familiar carols could leave worshipers spiritually malnourished. The widow “who’s going through the Christmas season the first time this year without her husband … needs […]
EDITOR’S NOTE: This year, Baptist Press is publishing a series of stories leading up to the 500th anniversary of when Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany, Oct. 31, 1517. A confession of faith aimed at expressing “interdenominational unity” among Protestants on the 500th anniversary of the […]
Bestselling Christian author Eugene Peterson, known for “The Message” paraphrase of Scripture, reportedly said in an interview with Religion News Service he does not believe homosexuality is sinful and that he would perform a same-sex wedding if asked. LifeWay Christian Resources told Baptist Press it will stop selling all works by Peterson if he confirms […]
Thirty years after the Southern Baptist Convention Peace Committee delivered its major report to the convention, Baptists hold a range of views on the committee’s significance. Some claim it played a positive role in advancing the SBC’s Conservative Resurgence. Others say it helped calm the denominational conflict. Still others have called it a public relations […]
EDITOR’S NOTE: The full text of a statement by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary president Paige Patterson appears below this article. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has “deeply” apologized for a photograph posted by faculty members on social media featuring some of the seminary’s preaching professors dressed as hip hop artists. Among responses to the photo on […]