Baptist

Baptists and other evangelicals in the birth city of Jesus find themselves impacted by the global coronavirus outbreak as governmental leaders mandate the closing of schools and other institutions. Bethlehem Bible College, an evangelical school with several Baptists involved in leadership, announced Sunday (March 8) it’s “closed until further notice.”

Faith-based disaster groups are gearing up to provide assistance after overnight tornadoes killed at least 21 people across four counties in Tennessee.

Jim Wallis and Suzan Johnson Cook are among keynote speakers at American Baptist Home Mission Societies’ Space for Grace 2020 national gathering — “Testify!” — to be held Sept. 23-25, 2020, at the Westin Kansas City (Mo.) at Crown Center.

The Board of Trustees of Central Baptist Theological Seminary elected Dr. Pamela R. Durso as the seminary’s 11th president in a special meeting held on Monday, February 24, 2020. She will begin her duties as president June 1, 2020.

The Baptist World Alliance has appointed Everton Jackson to serve as Director of Integral Mission. Jackson will focus on the BWA's core ministry area of evangelism and mission while providing administrative oversight and leadership in the areas of religious freedom, human rights, and justice as well as theological reflection and transformational leadership.

As the global coronavirus crisis nears pandemic status, the International Mission Board of the SBC announced Friday (Feb. 28) a coronavirus task force to address implications for IMB personnel and partners, including church volunteer mission teams.

Groups that advocate for the survivors of clergy sexual abuse called on Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt to investigate clergy in the Missouri Baptist Convention for sexual abuse or misconduct — as he already has done with the Catholic Church.

Officers of the Board of Trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission strongly objected to the formation of a task force to study the ERLC's effectiveness and instructed the entity and its leadership "not to comply" with the inquiry.

Leaders of the Missouri Baptist Convention defended a pastor accused by police of not properly handling a case of a staff member sexually abusing boys. However, they did not address the key allegation, and they misrepresented the nature of the claims.

Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri, announced Feb. 22 that it would hold a special-called meeting of its Board of Trustees on Monday (Feb. 24) to consider actions regarding a new trustee accused of mishandling the sexual misconduct case of another church staffer. The trustee was one of five chosen by the Missouri Baptist Convention’s Nominating Committee in October in replacement of trustees nominated by SBU.