Please Listen to My Friend Ralph West About Racism & the SBC
The six Southern Baptist seminary presidents would have done well to reflect on their own denominational history. Read full piece
Four Teens Arrested for Vandalizing Black Baptist Church
The Callaway County Sheriff’s Department announced Thursday it arrested four teenagers for massive vandalism last week to a historic Black Baptist church founded by enslaved persons before the Civil War.
Panel Urges Southern Seminary to Make Amends for Past Racial Sins
Panelists at a Dec. 2 virtual forum on “Race and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary” agreed the Louisville, Ky., school’s entanglements with slavery and racism demand a stronger response than the school has put forward. Read full piece
Preservationists Fighting to Save Old Baptist Church in St. Louis
The Second Baptist Church building sits empty and dilapidated along Kingshighway in St. Louis. It was bought eight years ago by a man who had plans to rehab the space but reportedly done nothing with it. Read full piece
Pastor Says Vandalism of Black Baptist Church is Spiritual Attack
Gordon Coleman, pastor Mount Vernon Missionary Baptist Church in Callaway County, Missouri, talked with Word&Way after vandals left massive damage on Wednesday to the Black Baptist church founded by enslaved people before the Civil War.
Archaeologists in Colonial Williamsburg Uncover More Findings at First Baptist Church Site
The first phase of excavation has ended for a Colonial Williamsburg archaeology project aiming to help tell the story of Williamsburg’s First Baptist Church, one of America’s oldest churches founded by free and enslaved Blacks. Read full piece
The 1st MBC Leader Enslaved Black People. Their New President is a Black Pastor.
The Missouri Baptist Convention on Tuesday elected its first Black president — 186 years after the first man to hold that position did so while he enslaved more than a dozen Black people. This week’s election of Jon Nelson symbolized a significant change since Jeremiah
‘The White Christian Shuffle’: Southern Seminary Sets Aside $5 Million for Black Students
Author Robert P. Jones calls it "The White Christian Shuffle." The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary did it Monday when its board of trustees took a small step toward reconciliation by voting to set up a $5 million scholarship endowment for Black students. But it may have taken a step or two backward
Al Mohler Needs to Say Their Names
Trustees for Southern Baptist Theological Seminary followed the request of SBTS President Al Mohler and voted against renaming buildings that honor the school’s enslaver founders. But while Mohler and SBTS insist names are important, they keep ignoring some names: those enslaved by the founders.
SBTS Trustees Unanimously Vote to Keep Campus Honors to Enslaver Founders
After months of some Black Southern Baptist leaders urging Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to remove names of enslavers from campus buildings and programs, trustees at the school in Louisville, Kentucky, unanimously voted Monday (Oct. 12) not to change the names.