Baptist Press Archive

Friday, May 17, 2019

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  • Refugee crisis: IMB's Chitwood goes to Capitol Hill
    by Julie McGowan, posted Friday, May 17, 2019 (4 years ago)

    IMB photo
    WASHINGTON, D.C.(BP) -- Only days after witnessing Venezuelan refugees' plight on the Colombia border, and mere weeks after praying with refugees in Uganda, International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood traveled to Capitol Hill Thursday (May 16) to discuss the global refugee crises with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

    Chitwood and John Brady, IMB's vice president of Global Engagement, along with their spouses, met with Sen. McConnell, (R-Ky.) a longtime Southern Baptist elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984 from Louisville, Ky., in the Majority Leader's office in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Read More

  • House passes expansive LGBT bill
    by Tom Strode, posted Friday, May 17, 2019 (4 years ago)

    iStock
    WASHINGTON (BP) -- The U.S. House of Representatives approved Friday (May 17) an expansive gay and transgender rights bill that opponents warn would devastatingly undermine freedom of religion, conscience and speech, as well as protections for women, girls and unborn children.

    The Democratic-controlled House voted 236-173 for the Equality Act, H.R. 5, marking the first time a bill to bar discrimination against people who identify as gay or transgender has gained approval in a congressional chamber. Read More

  • 'Hope-givers' reaching refugees on brink of despair
    by Paul Chitwood, posted Friday, May 17, 2019 (4 years ago)

    Photo by Chris Carter/IMB
    VENEZUELA (BP) -- With tears streaming down her face, an elderly woman stood before me half way across the Simon Bolivar International Bridge between Colombia and Venezuela. She was one of thousands to cross the bridge on foot that day. Most carried food, medicine, and other essential items. They came to Colombia to secure whatever they could carry in their hands or on their backs before making the long journey back home.

    Others had no plans to return. Instead, they were already miles deep in the Colombian mountains with hopes of making their way to other South American countries. They had heard there were places where refugees are welcome, jobs are available, and a better life awaits. Read More

  • SBC exhibits: new leaders, conversation & fun

    by BP Staff, posted Friday, May 17, 2019 (4 years ago)

    Photo by Samuelle Grove
    BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- Southern Baptist leaders once again will have much to talk about at this year's Cooperative Program exhibit hall booth during the 2019 SBC Annual Meeting in Birmingham, Ala.

    Among the topics at the CP Stage and Platform are everything from adoption, the sexual abuse crisis and church revitalization to the new movie, "Overcomer." The exhibit hall area of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex will be open June 10-12. Read More

  • Former BCM/D exec. dir. Charles Barnes, 86, dies

    by Sharon Mager, posted Friday, May 17, 2019 (4 years ago)

    Photo courtesy of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware
    SEVERNA PARK, Md. (BP) -- Charles Barnes, who served as executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware (BCM/D) from 1993 to 2000, died in his home on May 11. He was 86.

    Born in Stonewall, Miss., he enjoyed gardening with his mother and playing high school sports. Before graduating high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves and served briefly during the Korean War. Back home in Mississippi, he met and courted Laura Sue Thompson, and they married in 1953. Read More

  • Taiwan Christians lament new gay marriage law
    by Diana Chandler, posted Friday, May 17, 2019 (4 years ago)

    iStock
    TAIPEI, Taiwan (BP) -- A Christian coalition in Taiwan is lamenting the legalization of gay marriage there Thursday (May 16), months after a majority of voters rejected such unions in a nationwide referendum.

    Taiwan is the first Asian nation to legalize such unions. Parliament's vote counters a November 2018 referendum in which 67 percent of voters rejected gay marriage. Read More

  • FIRST-PERSON: My ministry 'failure'
    by Randy L. Bennett, posted Friday, May 17, 2019 (4 years ago)

    A long-forgotten file from the 1970s showed Randy Bennett that he had wrongly thought his early ministry was a failure. Read More