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OKLAHOMA CITY (RNS) — As Presbyterian minister Bobby Griffith sees it, legalizing medical marijuana in Oklahoma could help arthritis sufferers with chronic pain and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The 41-year-old husband and father has a personal reason, too, for supporting State Question 788 — a pro-marijuana initiative that the Bible Belt state’s voters will decide June 26.

Southern Baptists meeting in Dallas June 12-13 will pick their next president. J.D. Greear is widely expected to win; if he does, 45-year-old Greear will become the youngest SBC leader in nearly 40 years to assume the one-year post and the first Generation X president.

On average a pastor has two or three hours a week to speak directly to church members built on hours of prayer and study. Pastors who find a way to share some of that research and insight through a writing ministry have an opportunity to connect with church members and those outside the church.

Word&Way asked Midwest Baptist leaders and those serving Baptists to share a meaningful book. Here are their responses.

ESCUINTLA CITY, Guatemala (BP) -- A Baptist youth mission team already in Guatemala when a volcano erupted there June 3 is safe and helping churches house and feed survivors.

A.K. Lama is the former general secretary of the Council of Baptist Churches in North East India. Now, he leads Transforming Leaders in Asia Ministries, an organization he started to train pastors in the region and beyond. Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor interviewed Lama in Umran, India, during a TLA training conference at which they both taught.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — After decades of planning and delays, Israel is opening the doors of a new national natural history museum in the city of Tel Aviv, a facility that aims to increase scientific education despite religious opposition to the theory of evolution.

The Supreme Court today ruled today in favor of a Christian baker in Colorado who refused to design a case for a same-sex wedding, a controversial case that was widely seen as a standoff between claims of religious liberty and LGBTQ rights.

JACKSON, Miss. (RNS) -- In a few weeks (July 1), Les Ferguson Jr. will move on to a new position in Oxford, home to "Ole Miss," the University of Mississippi.

The move and the university community, he said, offer the potential for more personal and spiritual growth. It's also another move toward wholeness for a man whose life was fractured by tragedy nearly seven years ago.

(RNS) — After considering fresh evidence of an alleged rape cover-up, the board of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth voted to strip embattled former President Paige Patterson of the title and benefits it had granted him a week ago.