Baptist Press Archive

Tuesday, January 03, 2017

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  • Platt to students: 'Risk your life in faith'
    by Myriah Snyder, posted Tuesday, January 03, 2017 (5 years ago)

    Photo provided by Cross conference/Facebook
    INDIANAPOLIS (BP) -- As 2016 came to close, more than 2,000 college students and campus leaders were challenged by Southern Baptists and other Christian speakers to give their lives to the cause of missions during the Cross 2016 missions event.

    The purpose of the Dec. 27-30 conference at the Indianapolis Convention Center was "to mobilize students in the cause of frontier missions for the glory of Jesus Christ," according to the event website and various speakers throughout the gathering. Read More

  • Judge blocks HHS mandate on gender transition, abortion
    by Tom Strode, posted Tuesday, January 03, 2017 (5 years ago)

    "This ruling is a common-sense decision." -- Travis Wussow
    WASHINGTON (BP) -- A federal judge has blocked implementation of a controversial Obama administration rule that requires doctors to perform gender transition procedures or treatments, as well as abortions.

    In a Dec. 31 opinion, judge Reed O'Connor of the Northern District of Texas granted a nationwide, preliminary injunction against a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulation that mandates the performance of and insurance coverage for gender transitions -- even on children -- and abortions, even if they violate the religious or ethical beliefs of the physicians and others involved. Read More

  • Paul Powell, former Annuity Board pres., dies
    by David Roach, posted Tuesday, January 03, 2017 (5 years ago)

    TYLER, Texas (BP) -- Paul Powell, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Annuity Board, died Dec. 28 following a stroke earlier in the month. He was 83.

    In addition to leading the Annuity Board (later renamed GuideStone Financial Resources) from 1990-97, Powell pastored Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, 17 years; served as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas in the mid-1980s; chaired Baylor University's board of regents; and became dean of Baylor's Truett Theological Seminary in 2001. Read More

  • Supreme Court examines death penalty for the disabled
    by Mary Reichard/WORLD News Service, posted Tuesday, January 03, 2017 (5 years ago)

    Associated Press/Texas Department of Criminal Justice
    HOUSTON (BP) -- Bobby James Moore got the death penalty for a murder he committed in 1980 at a Houston supermarket. But 36 years later, he apparently has a new argument: He is intellectually disabled and cannot be executed under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The Supreme Court heard his case at the end of November.

    Moore was 21 when he and some friends decided to rob Birdsall Super Market. His job was to stand guard with a shotgun. Things did not go as planned. Almost immediately after two clerks in the courtesy booth learned they were being ... Read More

  • Christian pastor freed in Sudan, others still charged
    by Morning Star News/Sudan correspondent, posted Tuesday, January 03, 2017 (5 years ago)

    KHARTOUM, Sudan (BP) -- A court in Khartoum, Sudan, released a pastor from prison Jan. 2 after acquitting him of charges punishable by the death penalty, sources said.

    Kwa (also spelled Kuwa) Shamaal was acquitted of charges ranging from spying to inciting hatred against the government, his attorney Muhanad Nur said.

    "Yes, he was released today after the court found that he was not guilty of the charges brought against him," said Nur, part of the team of lawyers defending ... Read More

  • FIRST-PERSON: 'Is Christmas done?'
    by Todd Brady, posted Tuesday, January 03, 2017 (5 years ago)

    His 3-year-old son's question, "Is Christmas done?" prompts Todd Brady to note that Christmas was never meant to be "done." While the celebration of Christmas comes around once a year, the cause of the celebration is "the One who has come to give us hope and peace all year long," Brady writes. Read More