Latest Baptist News
Virus loans helped entities tied to Trump evangelical allies
NEW YORK (AP) — Churches connected to President Donald Trump and other organizations linked to current or former Trump evangelical advisers received at least $17.3 million in loans from a federal rescue package designed to aid small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. Those receiving loans include...
Thomas Blanton, KKK bomber of 16th St Baptist Church, dies
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., the last of three one-time Ku Klux Klansmen convicted in a 1963 Alabama church bombing that killed four Black girls and was the deadliest single attack of the civil rights movement, died Friday in prison, officials said. He was 82. Gov. Kay Ivey’s...
Editorial Roundup: Mississippi
Recent editorials from Mississippi newspapers: ___ June 24 The Dispatch on efforts to preserve the history of Black Mississippians: If you were to somehow be able to spread Mississippi’s history out on a table, the first thing you would notice is a gaping hole in it. It would not be inaccurate to describe...
Baptists and Walmart criticize rebel-themed Mississippi flag
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Confederate-themed Mississippi flag drew opposition Tuesday from two big forces in the culturally conservative state: Southern Baptists and Walmart. Walmart said it will stop displaying the Mississippi flag while the state debates whether to change the design. The Mississippi...
Rural Missouri pastor: Virus 'just started to sprout up'
O'FALLON, Mo. (AP) — Pastor Joshua Manning is waiting for test results, but he can tell by the persistent fever and body aches that he probably has the coronavirus. His wife and three kids have symptoms, too, and so many members of his Community Baptist Church in tiny Noel, Missouri, are infected that...
Man with terminal cancer gets the concert of his dreams
OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — Jerry Lambrich’s wish came true. It was a simple one. The 80-year-old Owensboro man wanted Cash Unchained, a Johnny Cash tribute band, to play a private concert for him and a small group of friends and family at his house. Luckily, the band’s lead guitarist is his son,...
Virus outbreaks linked to 3 West Virginia churches
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Coronavirus outbreaks were linked to three churches in West Virginia on Wednesday as officials urged parishioners to follow safety guidelines and warned about the virus spreading into surrounding communities. Local health authorities said Greenbrier County's Graystone Baptist...
Pence to visit Texas for 'Freedom' event at megachurch
DALLAS (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence will visit Texas later this month for a “Celebrate Freedom" event at a Dallas megachurch, officials said Wednesday. Pence's office said the vice president will travel to Dallas on June 28 and will visit First Baptist Church. He will also speak at the church's...
Southern Baptists see 13th year of membership decline
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The nation's largest Protestant denomination is almost 2% smaller than it was in 2018. The Southern Baptist Convention released its 2019 membership numbers on Thursday, showing a membership decline of more than 287,000. That brings their total membership down from 14.8 million in...
Slowly, surely, US houses of worship emerge from lockdown
For the first time in two months, there was clapping, singing and fellowship inside Stithton Baptist Church in Radcliff, Kentucky, as members of the congregation returned to the sanctuary for Sunday morning services. There also were masks, hand sanitizer and social distancing. On a weekend when President Donald...
LOADING MORE STORIES
