Resources from 2008

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--On Christmas Eve, I attended a service at a Southern Baptist church that made me hope it was not representative of churches across our convention.

JERUSALEM (BP)--A group of believers from Jerusalem Baptist Church proclaimed the Gospel in Manger Square on Christmas Eve, explaining the reason for Christ's birth just days before new violence erupted in the region.       About 50 people from Jerusalem Baptist and another 30 believers from The Baptist Village in Petach Tikva gathered at Manger Square in Bethlehem in the afternoon to sing Christmas songs, pass out tracts and talk with people about the true meaning of the nativity.       The group had been scheduled to have a presence on the stage set up in the square where various groups take turns singing and presenting a message. But for an unknown reason that was rumored to involve unrest between Muslims and Christians, many of the stage performances were canceled and the Baptist group ended up at another location.       "We had a trumpeter with us, so we set up and sang Christmas tunes and other tunes and did some evangelism," Al Nucciarone, pastor of Jerusalem Baptist, told Baptist Press Dec. 29.       " ... An hour after we did that, we all went into the Peace Center, and I got permission to set up in the coffee shop so that we would be inside," Nucciarone said, referring to a building constructed by Swedes which sits between the Church of the Nativity and a mosque in Manger Square.

SHAWNEE, Okla. (BP)--Steve Green's father, David, started his retail career in high school through the DECA program. Never the model student, but with an affinity for math, David Green embraced the opportunity provided by the work program, starting the art-supplies store Hobby Lobby in a 300-square-foot space in 1972.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (BP)--Evangelist Billy Graham has moved his membership to First Baptist Church in Spartanburg, S.C., the church's pastor told the congregation Dec. 28.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Miss Bessie was known at Oakland Baptist Church for her exuberant singing from the pews every Sunday morning.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--A new report indicates that the average child in America now spends 45 hours a week immersed in the media -- a multiple of the hours spent with parents or in the classroom.