Tim and Annie Tidenberg — IMB Photo

The specifics of Tim and Annie’s call to missions changed, but the calling itself never altered. God led the Tidenbergs to bring the gospel to the nations, and they’ve obeyed.

When they retired from their church planting role in East Africa, they moved to the U.S. to lead a church. Then, they felt led to move back overseas. Now, they spend their time in West Africa resourcing, equipping and supporting missionaries as member care consultants with the International Mission Board. In this new role, they provide pastoral care and counseling to contribute to the spiritual, emotional and mental wellbeing of missionaries. 

Both Tim and Annie are former missionary kids turned missionaries themselves. Annie was born in Kenya, and Tim went with his parents at age two to Tanzania. As adults, they responded to God’s call to take His Word to the spiritually lost in Africa where they have spent most of their adult lives. [Read more…]

Johnny Hunt / File photo, Baptist Press

NASHVILLE — Longtime pastor and former SBC President Johnny Hunt has filed suit against the SBC, the SBC Executive Committee (EC) and Guidepost Solutions. The suit seeks unspecified damages related to allegations of defamation and the invasion of privacy based on accusations made against Hunt in the 2022 Guidepost report stemming from an investigation into the alleged mishandling of sexual abuse by the SBC EC.

Hunt filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Nashville on March 17. Hunt is represented by Nashville-based Cole Law Group.

In the report, Guidepost stated, “During our investigation, an SBC pastor and his wife came forward to report that SBC President Johnny Hunt (2008-2010) had sexually assaulted the wife on July 25, 2010.”

Guidepost says their report “was corroborated in part by a counseling minister and three other credible witnesses; and our investigators did not find Dr. Hunt’s statements related to the sexual assault allegation to be credible.” [Read more…]

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee are the latest states to pass new legislation protecting minors from transgender surgery and hormonal treatment.

The three states join Utah and South Dakota bringing to five the number of states that prohibit gender-changing medical treatment on children.

Similar bills are progressing in 22 states, according to tracking sites.

While a 2021 law in Arkansas is enjoined in federal court, the Arkansas legislature sent a new bill March 8 to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to strengthen legal protections for minors. [Read more…]

Willie McLaurin addresses the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee during its Feb. 20–21 opening session. — Photo by Van Payne / The Baptist Paper

In the year since Willie McLaurin was named interim president and CEO of Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, he has spent a lot of energy building relationships.

McLaurin, a former staff member of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, shares often how he schedules a 15-minute Zoom call with pastors who send him a letter or email rather than writing them back. He wants to know what’s fully on their hearts and how he can help — and he can do that better chatting face to face. [Read more…]

Dwight Easler, vice chairman for the Committee on Finances and Stewardship Development, answers a question from Executive Committee member Monte Shinkle.

NASHVILLE — SBC Executive Committee members approved recommendations and informational regarding the previous and current operational finance budgets as well as a recent audit of its overall finances.

At their previous in Sept. 2022, SBC Executive Committee members approved a 2022-2023 Operating Budget of $8,335,000. Today (Feb. 21) they were reminded how that month closed out the 2021-22 fiscal year with $200,452,608 given through the Cooperative Program, a 4.26 percent increase from the year before.

However, EC members also learned that a $6,704,285 loss in net assets was determined for that same fiscal year.

EC member Dwight Easler, filling in for Convention Finances and Stewardship chairman Archie Mason, also reported that first quarter receipts given from Oct. 1-Dec. 31 for the 2022-23 budget had totaled $45,715,000, a decrease of 8.69 percent. First quarter net assets were also down by $1,372,527. [Read more…]

NASHVILLE — In its meeting on Feb. 21, the SBC Executive Committee deemed six churches to be not in friendly cooperation — five of whom for having a female functioning in the office of pastor — including one of the largest churches in the Convention, Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif.

Saddleback hired Andy Wood and his wife Stacie as “Pastors Andy and Stacie Wood,” according to the church website, in 2022 as the megachurch’s founding pastor Rick Warren retired.

The SBC Executive Committee did not name the Woods in its decision to deem the church to be not in friendly cooperation. The recommendation from the SBC Credentials Committee came “on the basis that the church has a faith and practice that does not closely identify with the Convention’s adopted statement of faith, as demonstrated by the church having a female teaching pastor functioning in the office of pastor.”

Four other churches with women senior pastors were deemed to be not in friendly cooperation by the Executive Committee in addition to a church that failed to cooperate with the Credentials Committee regarding a sexual abuse allegation against its senior pastor. New Faith Mission Ministry in Griffin, Ga.; St. Timothy’s Christian Church in Baltimore, Md.; Calvary Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss.; and Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., were deemed to be not in friendly cooperation because of female senior pastors. [Read more…]