Baptist Press Archive

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

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  • 'Until He comes': Police, clergy pledge 24/7 prayer
    by Diana Chandler, posted Tuesday, July 26, 2016 (8 years ago)

    Photo by Diana Chandler
    HOUSTON (BP) -- Months before related shootings in three states resulted in the deaths of eight policemen and two black civilian men in July, the Houston Police Officers Union began recruiting clergy and intercessors to make Houston a city of prayer.

    The result is a prayer room established at police union headquarters in downtown Houston, where continuous prayers are planned around the clock for the city beginning in August, Union Baptist Association church consultant Rickie Bradshaw told Baptist Press. Read More

  • Black pastors attend prayer & listening session
    by Keith Collier/Southern Baptist TEXAN, posted Tuesday, July 26, 2016 (8 years ago)

    Photo by Keith Collier/
    GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP) -- Nearly two dozen black pastors met with Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Executive Director Jim Richards and convention staff for a prayer and listening session on racial reconciliation amid national tensions stemming from black men being killed by police in Baton Rouge, La., and St. Paul, Minn., as well as gunmen killing police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge.

    Richards invited the SBTC pastors to discuss ways the convention can assist churches of all ethnicities in working together for racial reconciliation in their communities. Read More

  • DNC abortion stance provokes pro-life Democrats
    by David Roach, posted Tuesday, July 26, 2016 (8 years ago)

    PHILADELPHIA (BP) -- Despite the Democratic Party's adoption yesterday (July 25) of a platform calling, for the first time ever, for direct taxpayer funding of abortion, a pro-life group within in the party is laboring at the Democratic National Convention to shift Democrats' stance on sanctity of life issues.

    In related news, Russell Moore, president of Southern Baptists' Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, wrote in a USA Today op-ed coauthored with a former aide to President Obama, that the Democratic platform's unprecedented pro-choice stance is "a foreboding sign for American civic life." Read More

  • Pokémon Go party draws 6 gamers to Christ
    by Alex Sibley, posted Tuesday, July 26, 2016 (8 years ago)

    SWBTS photo
    FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) -- When viewed through the otherworldly lens of "Pokémon Go," Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is home to three "gyms," or virtual meeting places, and nearly three dozen "Pokéstops," or landmarks.

    Thus, numerous Pokémon "trainers," or participants -- enthusiasts who wouldn't otherwise trek to a seminary campus -- have made their way to Southwestern as they play the game.

    Realizing the unique opportunity for outreach, seminary students and faculty hosted a "lure party" at the Fort Worth, Texas, campus July 19. Read More

  • LGBT history lessons planned for Calif. students
    by Molly Hulsey/WORLD News Service, posted Tuesday, July 26, 2016 (8 years ago)

    CALIFORNIA (BP) -- California revamped its social-science education guidelines in July to incorporate lessons on historic lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender individuals and social movements in the approved curriculum. The decision garnered almost unanimous support at a public meeting and across the state, but some Californians are concerned about its long-term impact on their children. Read More

  • Felony charges dropped over baby body parts videos
    by Diana Chandler, posted Tuesday, July 26, 2016 (8 years ago)

    Photo by Bonnie Pritchett/Southern Baptist TEXAN
    HOUSTON (BP) -- All criminal charges have been dismissed against two investigators who posed as procurers of aborted baby body parts in undercover videos of interactions with Planned Parenthood executives.

    The Harris County District Attorney's office in Houston dropped charges today (July 26) against Center for Medical Progress founder David Daleiden and his CMP coworker Sandra Merritt, who had sought to show in secretly recorded videos that Planned Parenthood illegally profits from the sale of aborted baby tissue. Read More

  • FIRST-PERSON: The next great generation?
    by Erich Bridges, posted Tuesday, July 26, 2016 (8 years ago)

    Erich Bridges doesn't buy negative stereotypes of Millennials as aimless addicts to technology unable to form lasting relationships. Bridges, a missions writer for 30-plus years, has met countless 20-somethings whose determination to serve God is inspiring. "And they represent millions more," he writes. Read More