By Diana Chandler Baptist Press ORLANDO — First Baptist Church of Orlando, Fla., has paid the full cost of the 2020 Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference, leaders said Monday (Feb. 17) in response to disagreement about speakers and performers slated for the June 7-8 event. “We will not receive any financial support of any kind from any SBC entity or auxiliary,” pastors’ conference leaders said in a statement released by

Baptist Press NASHVILLE — Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President Ronnie Floyd announced Jan. 30 that he will propose at the February EC meeting revisions to the EC mission and ministries statement including a new prayer ministry. “Updating the language of the SBC Executive Committee’s ministry assignments and the explanation of them is important as we seek to better serve Southern Baptist churches,” Floyd told Baptist Press.

By Julie Owens and Alex Sibley Baptist Press Fort Worth, Texas — James Leo Garrett Jr., distinguished professor of theology emeritus at The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS), died Feb. 5 in Nacogdoches, Texas. He was 94. Garrett found widespread acceptance not only in Baptist circles, but also in the wider community of Christian scholars. He had held emeritus status at Southwestern Seminary since his retirement in 1997. His career

By The Alabama Baptist staff The Arkansas Baptist News recently dissolved its autonomous board of directors and became a convention-run publication, according to an Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC) press release Feb. 4. The ABN is the most recent of the traditional state Baptist newspapers, reportedly because of financial and other pressures, to make this move, leaving only four of its kind remaining. The Alabama Baptist (TAB) is one of