By Tom Strode Baptist Press WASHINGTON (BP) — A federal judge has blocked a looming Department of Labor overtime rule considered burdensome by Southern Baptist and other nonprofit entities. Amos Mazzant, a judge in the Eastern District of Texas, issued a nationwide temporary injunction Tuesday (Nov. 22) to prevent enforcement of a DOL regulation that would have increased the number of workers eligible for time-and-a-half overtime pay by more than

By David Roach Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) — Eight of the nine states with marijuana-related ballot measures Nov. 8 expanded legalization of the drug. Of the five states to consider recreational marijuana legalization for adults, only Arizona rejected it. California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada all voted in favor of legalization. All four states to consider medical marijuana — Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota — voted either to legalize or

By Josie Rabbitt Baptist Press ALPHARETTA, Ga. — LifeWay Christian Resources’ and the North American Mission Board’s recently-appointed task force on disciple-making met Oct. 17 at NAMB’s building here. The group of 11 Southern Baptist pastors gathered to discuss their task of communicating that “any church of any background can be disciple-making,” according to chairman Robby Gallaty, pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville. Gallaty began the meeting by

Baptist Press BILLINGS, Mont. — Barrett Duke will begin in January 2017 as the new executive director of the Montana Southern Baptist Convention (MTSBC) after his near unanimous election to the post. Messengers to MTSBC annual meeting Oct. 6-7 in Missoula elected Duke to succeed retiring executive director Fred Hewitt by a vote of 87 to 3, search committee chairman Bruce Speer said. Duke, former vice president of the Washington,

By David Roach Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) — During the presidential campaign of 1800, Christian opponents of candidate Thomas Jefferson warned he “abhors the Christian system” and if elected, might send troops to seize Christians’ Bibles. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln’s election was thought by some Southern Baptist leaders to threaten fundamental American liberties. A century later, the presidential campaign elicited the Chicago Sun-Times headline “Southern Baptists Tell Why They Are

By Bob Smietana Lifeway Research NASHVILLE, Tenn. — This Halloween, millions of Americans will carve pumpkins, dress up in costumes, decorate their yards, and gobble down the candy they get while trick-or-treating. America’s preachers also hope they’ll consider coming to church, according to a new phone survey of 1,000 Protestant senior pastors from Nashville-based LifeWay Research. Two-thirds of Protestant pastors say they encourage church members to ask their neighbors to