SBC

THREE MORE STEPS TOWARD CREDIBILITY

FRANKLIN — It’s never the wrong time to do the right thing. And  the right thing was done Monday, July 17, when Baptist Press reported on the actions of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee’s (EC) presidential search team. The search committee’s update, the promise of a future update and Baptist Press’ story were three important steps taken in the direction of restoring the EC’s credibility. The EC has been

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LIFEWAY WORSHIP TO DISCONTINUE WORSHIP WEBSITE ON SEPT. 30

NASHVILLE — Lifeway Worship, a component of Lifeway Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, has announced plans to discontinue its lifewayworship.com website on Sept. 30. A letter posted at lifewayworship.com on July 18 stated: “At Lifeway, we exist to honor God and serve churches by designing trustworthy experiences that fuel ministry. That’s why taking anything out of print or discontinuing any service to the church is not something we take lightly,

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DAVIS, OTHER LEADERS ADDRESS TRANSGENDER MOVEMENT

NASHVILLE — More state legislatures have enacted laws this year to protect minors and women, as well as to ensure competitive fairness in sports, in response to the transgender rights movement. So far in 2023, the legislative effort to address issues regarding particularly children and young people who identity as a gender other than their biological sex include, according to the Movement Advancement Project (MAP): 17 new states have passed

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SOUTHWESTERN SEMINARY RECEIVES WARNING ABOUT ACCREDITATION

The accreditation status of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, has been moved to “warning” level by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The warning status decision was made June 15 and applies to all components of the institution — all programs, branch campuses, off-campus sites and distance learning programs — SACSCOC reported June 23. According to Disclosure-Statement-SWBT-J2023-2 found at sacscoc.org, the SACSCOC board

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HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS FLEE, BUT GOD HAS NOT LEFT SUDAN

SUDAN, NORTHERN AFRICA — War, conquest, colonization, coups and dictators — Sudan’s history runs red. Blood flows now, leaving a trail behind the men, women and children who have, and are, fleeing to bordering countries. On April 15, fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group. An observer outside of Sudan who is familiar with the situation said the fighting is so devastating

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RUSSELL H. DILDAY JR., SIXTH PRESIDENT OF SOUTHWESTERN SEMINARY, DIES

FORT WORTH, Texas — Russell Hooper Dilday Jr., the sixth president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, died on June 21 in Dallas. He was 92 years old. “Russell Dilday had just come to serve as president of Southwestern Seminary when I came to Southwestern as a student,” recalled David S. Dockery, current president of Southwestern Seminary. “As a student, I always appreciated his leadership for the seminary and his care

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2023 SBC MEETING RECAP: MESSENGERS ADOPT NINE RESOLUTIONS

The Baptist Paper  NEW ORLEANS — Messengers to the 2023 SBC annual meeting in New Orleans adopted a total of nine resolutions during the business sessions on June 13 and June 14.  “Resolutions are an important part of what we do each and every year as a convention of churches,” said resolutions committee chair David Sons in introducing Part 1 of the committee’s report. “They give us a glimpse into

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2023 SBC MEETING RECAP: MESSENGERS AMEND BF&M, CALL FOR TASK FORCES, EYE HAWAII

NEW ORLEANS — Messengers to the 2023 SBC annual meeting in New Orleans proposed more than 30 requests for the Committee on Order of Business to consider.  Of those, three were addressed during the two-day meeting, 19 were referred to SBC entities and one (a prayer for Jerusalem) was affirmed with a prayer from the podium. The rest were ruled out of order for various procedural reasons. The three items

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2023 SBC MEETING RECAP: MESSENGERS TAKE FIRST VOTE TO AMENDING SBC CONSTITUTION

NEW ORLEANS — Messengers to the 2023 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in New Orleans took a first vote June 14 to amend the SBC constitution by adding that Southern Baptist churches affirm, appoint or employ “only men” as pastors and elders. Because any amendment to the SBC constitution requires a two-thirds vote at two consecutive SBC annual meetings to go into effect, the amendment will be voted on again

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2023 SBC MEETING RECAP: HUGE CROWD, SPIRITED DEBATES

Editor’s note: Detailed stories on each of the items in this article and others can be found throughout the June 21 print edition of the B&R and at baptistandreflector.org. NEW ORLEANS — The third largest contingent of messengers to an annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention since 2000 gathered June 13-14 in New Orleans. The 2023 annual meeting, which focused on the theme, “Serving the Lord, Serving Others,” drew 12,737

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