NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Years before I became a pastor or seminary professor, I had another job. As a 16-year-old boy, growing up in Atlanta, I had a dream job – I was a batboy for the Atlanta Braves.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lifted regional stay-at-home orders across the state Monday in response to improving coronavirus conditions, returning the state to a system of county-by-county restrictions.

WASHINGTON (BP) – The U.S. House of Representatives voted 232-197 Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 13) to impeach Donald Trump for inciting insurrection, making him the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice.

WASHINGTON (BP) – Protestant Christians remain easily the largest religious group in Congress, but those who identify as “unspecified” have expanded their advantage over Baptists in that category.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore asked President Trump to resign Friday (Jan. 8) to bring about healing in the United States.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump for the first time acknowledged his defeat in the Nov. 3 election  and announced there would be an "orderly transition" on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, after Congress concluded the electoral vote count early Thursday (Jan. 7) certifying President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BP) — Southern Baptist leaders condemned protesters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday (Jan. 6), occupying legislative chambers and various lawmakers’ offices. The SBC leaders called for peace – and called Christians to prayer.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Angry supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in a chaotic protest, forcing lawmakers to be rushed from the building and interrupting challenges to Joe Biden's Electoral College victory. Trump issued a restrained call for peace but did not call on his supporters to leave.

ATLANTA (AP) — Democrat Raphael Warnock won one of Georgia's two Senate runoffs Wednesday (Jan. 6), becoming the first Black senator in his state's history and putting the Senate majority within the party's reach.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Security cameras at Nashville's First Baptist Church captured the moment a bomb exploded four blocks away on Christmas morning, damaging 40 buildings downtown and injuring at least three people. The church's proximity afforded a unique outreach opportunity.