News Articles by Bonnie Pritchett

AUSTIN, Texas (BP) -- The Texas Senate late Friday (July 12) passed sweeping abortion restrictions almost entirely along party lines following weeks of protests, lobbying and debate from both sides in the abortion debate.

HOUSTON (BP) -- For seminary student Samantha Williams, the "B" in HBU means more than "Baptist." It represents a time and a place where she came to know Christ and His will for her life.

MALAKOFF, Texas (BP) -- For the sake of his three young sons and the daughter he and his wife will soon adopt from Africa, Pastor Nathan Lorick says he has drawn a line in the dirt of his East Texas community in defiance of an atheist group's demand that a nativity scene be removed from the lawn of the Henderson County Courthouse.

BASTROP, Texas (BP) — Raymond Edge, pastor of First Baptist Church in Bastrop, Texas, said he had planned to preach from Psalm 46:1-7 — a refuge passage — on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. But the ferocious wildfires in Bastrop County the previous week left his church feeling far removed from 9/11 […]

ISHINOMAKI, Japan (BP)--A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck at 6:51 a.m. June 23 off the northeast coast of Japan -- rattling the communities devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami as well as a nine-member Southern Baptists of Texas Convention disaster relief team.

DEARBORN, Mich. (BP)--A civil lawsuit may be filed against the city of Dearborn, Mich., on behalf of four people -- including two Southern Baptists -- who were arrested on charges of "breaching the peace" at an Arab festival in Dearborn, Mich.

SMITH COUNTY, Texas (BP)–Two more Baptist churches, less than two miles apart, burned Monday night, making a total of 11 East Texas churches damaged or destroyed by fire since the New Year and seven confirmed as arsons, authorities say. The latest buildings consumed were declared a total loss despite the response from four volunteer fire […]

HOUSTON (BP)--As two African American organizations gathered Jan. 18 on separate parade routes in Houston to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., a diverse gathering in a third location called attention to what they said is the new issue of the civil rights movement -- the sanctity of human life -- a cause they declared would have been championed by the late civil rights leader.       Speakers over the course of the two-day gathering in Houston included Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Abby Johnson, former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic; Harry Jackson, pastor of Hope Christian Church in Washington, D.C., and a leader in the black conservative movement; and many others from across the nation.       To commemorate the King holiday, the event included leaders of the African American and Hispanic Christian communities who charged Planned Parenthood with targeting minority populations. Planned Parenthood Federation is nearing completion in Houston of what organizers said would be the nation's largest abortion-providing clinic.       Attempts to contact Planned Parenthood Houston/Southeast Texas for a response went unanswered.       Land called the new facility a "monstrosity" and others said the site of the clinic is no coincidence but merely representative of the racist ideals held by the organization's late founder, Margaret Sanger. At the very least, Land said, the location is "making the taking of human life more convenient."

BRYAN, Texas (BP)--Abby Johnson had never felt so alone. Sitting in her Planned Parenthood office and weeping, Johnson, who was raised Southern Baptist, knew God had called her to leave her job as[QUOTE@left@170="I had taken away her chance to be a mother."
-- Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood clinic director, after assisting with an abortion]director of the women's health and abortion clinic and join forces with the Coalition for Life advocates just down the street.       The call was unmistakable. But the courage to take the step of faith to leave her job with no other prospects in sight -- and invest herself in a movement that was diametrically opposed to the life she had lived the past eight years -- was harder to muster. [QUOTE@right@150=Workers at all Planned Parenthood facilities are forbidden to use the word "baby."
-- Abby Johnson]      Other than her husband Doug, she had no one she could confide in. Her co-workers, whom she considered friends, would not understand her decision. Christian ideals, Johnson said, often were mocked by the Planned Parenthood employees and the pro-choice advocates she knew. So she kept quiet.       She believed her church would not understand either. The Johnsons were members of an Episcopal church because they had been turned away from membership ...

DEARBORN, Mich. (BP)--An apologetics witness certified by Southern Baptists was among a small group of evangelical Christians escorted by Dearborn, Mich., police from the grounds of the American Arab Festival after the team said they were assaulted by members of the event's security detail and several attendees.