Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
January 8, 2016
Baptist Press NASHVILLE — Nearly half of the background checks requested by churches through LifeWay’s program with backgroundchecks.com reveal some type of criminal offense. Most of those are minor incidents such as speeding tickets, but 21 percent of inquiries discovered misdemeanors or more serious crimes, LifeWay’s Jennie Taylor said. Since 2008, when LifeWay began its […]
December 18, 2015
Baptist Press NASHVILLE — Bill Sumners, a Tennessee Baptist and director of Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives since 1988, will retire from his post next July, he recently announced in a letter to the Council of Seminary Presidents, which governs the organization. “It has been my pleasure and joy to serve in this position, […]
December 17, 2015
NASHVILLE (BP) — Twenty-three state conventions voted to increase the portion of Cooperative Program receipts being forwarded to Southern Baptist Convention missions and ministries in the coming year, continuing a trend inspired by passage of the Great Commission Task Force recommendations five years ago. This year, Florida Baptists made the largest shift, moving from 41 […]
December 16, 2015
By Carol Pipes LifeWay News Office NASHVILLE — Christmas is a great time to invite someone to church, according to a recent study by Nashville-based LifeWay Research. In a recent poll of 1,000 Americans, LifeWay Research found six out of 10 Americans typically attend church at Christmastime. But among those who don’t attend church at […]
December 12, 2015
Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) — Late preaching professor Calvin Miller once quipped to Christianity Today that many Southern Baptist churches “probably could hardly spell Advent” in the early 1990s. Not so anymore. LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention has published Advent devotional books and includes tips for observing Advent in at least two […]
December 9, 2015
Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) — America is launching new Protestant churches faster than it loses old ones, attracting many people who previously didn’t attend anywhere, new LifeWay Research studies show. More than 4,000 new churches opened their doors in 2014, outpacing the 3,700 that closed, according to estimates from the Nashville-based research organization based on […]
December 7, 2015
CARY, N.C. (BP) — Southern Baptist leaders are responding to the headline “God isn’t fixing this” that dominated the Dec. 3 cover of the New York Daily News. Images of tweets from Republican leaders surrounded the headline, displaying sympathetic “thoughts and prayers” for the people affected by a Dec. 2 mass shooting. “I’m hard-pressed to […]
December 3, 2015
Baptist Press NASHVILLE — The National Association of Evangelicals and LifeWay Research released an evangelical beliefs research definition Nov. 19 for accurate and consistent use among researchers. NAE initiated development of the research definition more than two years ago. In partnership with LifeWay Research, the definition was crafted, reviewed, and tested for validity. Numerous surveys […]
December 2, 2015
LifeWay news office NASHVILLE — Many women with unplanned pregnancies go silently from the church pew to the abortion clinic, convinced the church would gossip rather than help, a new study by LifeWay Research shows. More than four in 10 women who have had an abortion were churchgoers when they ended a pregnancy, researchers found […]
December 1, 2015
Baptist Press RICHMOND, Va. (BP) — With the International Mission Board expecting hundreds of missionaries to leave their positions in the coming months, the board has published a list of ways individuals and churches can support field personnel returning to the U.S. According to a Q&A posted on the IMB website and updated Nov. 18, […]
November 18, 2015
Baptist Press NASHVILLE — As retailers open the Christmas shopping season, One Million Moms is calling for a boycott of American Girl products and the parent company Mattel, because American Girl Magazine’s November/December cover features a gay couple and its four adoptive children. The morality watchdog group’s call comes even as various media outlets report […]
November 16, 2015
By Todd Deaton Baptist Press ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (BP) — Messengers to the 178th annual meeting of the Kentucky Baptist Convention elected an African American as convention president, called for an end to federal funding of Planned Parenthood and launched a strategy to boost their voice at the state capitol. Messengers also approved a $21.5 million […]