In a pathbreaking decision, the Rev. Gina Stewart has been elected as the first woman president of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Society, marking the first time a female has been chosen for the highest post of a Black Baptist organization.
Before and during the Civil War, white Texas Baptist leadership tied their theology of the gospel and plans for evangelism directly to Southern plantation patriarchy and support of the Confederacy. Read full piece
Cuban authorities have detained religious leaders — including at least three Baptists — in the wake of nationwide protests, action that drew rebuke from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Read full piece
A cultural clash pitting religious beliefs against gay rights has jeopardized Kentucky’s long-running relationship with a foster care and adoption agency affiliated with the Baptist church that serves some of the state’s most vulnerable children.
Columnist Terrell Carter writes we can all have joy because God’s message of redemption and restoration was entrusted to people who did not fit the typical description of joyful people.
“This is again and again a time of moral and social reckoning,” Boulder, Colo., pastor Andrew Daugherty told his congregation the day after the mass murder at a grocery store located about 3 miles from his church. Read full piece
A Tennessee pastor who confessed two decades ago to statutory rape has resigned after his church was recently removed from the Southern Baptist Convention for hiring him. Pastor Randy Leming Jr., who served at Antioch Baptist Church in Sevierville, announced his resignation on Feb. 28.
Karen Swallow Prior writes to explain why she’s still here. Still in the church. Still part of the bride — even if the reality of life in the church hasn’t quite met up to her youthful idealism.
Joshua Sharp worries that the decision by Southwest Baptist University trustees to deny tenure and effectively fire Dr. Debbie Walker will undo much of her work as one of the strongest allies for victims of sexual violence on campus at SBU.
Southern Baptist Convention officials have strongly condemned a letter sent by a critic of the SBC to the Rev. Dwight McKissic, a Black pastor in Texas who recently announced he was pulling his church out of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.