By Baptist Press NASHVILLE — Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd is among perhaps 500 evangelicals and other conservatives planning to meet with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump about his faith and values at a June 21 meeting in New York.

Baptist Press CINCINNATI (BP) — Local Baptists have expressed support for the Cincinnati Zoo’s decision to shoot and kill a 450-pound gorilla in order to protect a 3-year-old boy who fell into the animal’s enclosure over Memorial Day weekend. Much of the reaction was released to Baptist Press the same day the boy’s family shared a statement with media outlets expressing “praise” to “God for His grace and mercy.” The

Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) — While most Protestant pastors visit correctional facilities and want to help prisoners and their families, their churches often lack the training or finances to run an effective prison ministry. Those are among the findings of a new phone survey of 1,000 Protestant senior pastors from LifeWay Research. Researchers found widespread support among pastors for the idea of prison ministry. Eighty-three percent of pastors have visited

By Baptist Press WASHINGTON — With the U.S. suicide rate increasing 24 percent over the past 15 years according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, mental health experts have called pastors to prepare for ministry to suicidal individuals. While a pastor need not mention mental health issues every week from the pulpit, “a bit of regular exposure to such human realities has a way of breaking down

By Baptist Press WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has issued an order May 13 instructing all public schools to permit transgender students to use the restrooms and locker rooms of their gender identity instead of their biological sex. The across-the-board directive met quick protests from Southern Baptist leaders. Ronnie Floyd, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, described the federal guidance as “an outrageous attack on our Creator Himself, human sexuality

By Tom Strode Baptist Press WASHINGTON (BP) — Donald Trump’s striking victory in Indiana Tuesday (May 3) apparently settled the race for the Republican presidential nomination, but it did little to resolve the divisiveness among conservatives and evangelical Christians over his controversial candidacy. The brash billionaire triumphed easily in the latest primary over both of his rivals for the GOP nomination, leaving him seemingly with no opponents and an open