A New Home in the American Baptist Church
Rev. Joy Martinez-Marshall reflects on both the heartbreaks and triumphs she encountered on the winding road to finding a new denominational family.
Reflecting on the American Baptist Mission Summit
Contributing writer Greg Mamula walks us through the recent denominational gathering of the most ethnically diverse and politically balanced denomination in the United States.
Southern Baptists Refuse To Take Back Megachurch Because It Has Women Pastors
Saddleback had been the denomination’s second-largest congregation and until recently was widely touted as a success story amid larger Southern Baptist membership declines.
SBC Messengers Reelect Texas Pastor Bart Barber to a Second Term as President
Barber's reelection seems to indicate that Southern Baptists approve of the direction the convention is going and marks the third time a candidate backed by the Conservative Baptist Network has been defeated.
Welton Gaddy, Former Southern Baptist Who Became a Champion of Liberal Christianity, Dies
The Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, a pastor and former president of Interfaith Alliance who went from being a conservative Southern Baptist leader to an advocate for interfaith relations and LGBTQ Christians, died Wednesday at the age of 81.
Bart Barber, Mike Stone — Two Conservative Pastors — To Square Off for SBC President
The two candidates for SBC president hold many of the same beliefs but disagree sharply over how to handle the issue of sexual abuse and over the direction of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
Rick Warren Campaigns for Southern Baptist Reinstatement of Saddleback Church
Warren argues that the debate is far larger than what might happen to the church he founded.
We Didn’t Start the Fire
Even though this piece for A Public Witness starts as a story about one college, it deals with something many churches, schools, and organizations need to consider: taking steps to address their history.
Saddleback Church Appeals Southern Baptist Convention Ouster Over Woman Pastor
It is one of three churches appealing decisions recently made by the denomination’s Executive Committee to remove eight congregations from official affiliation.
Southern Baptists Lost Nearly Half a Million Members in 2022
The Southern Baptist Convention has lost 3 million members since 2006, about half of that in the last five years.