SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Hundreds of Southern Baptist church leaders and workers have been accused of sexual misconduct over the past 20 years, including dozens who returned to church duties, according to a joint investigation by two newspapers.

The

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — A Baptist minister in Spartanburg, South Carolina, is accused of repeatedly raping and twice impregnating a child, whose pregnancies were then terminated.

News outlets report 32-year-old Phillip Jerard Buckson was arrested Wednesday at the Cleveland Chapel Baptist ...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The mayor of North Carolina’s largest city will share the stage with Gov. Roy Cooper and others at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. service for state government employees.

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles is the special guest speaker for Friday’s King holiday observance at ...

HENDERSON, Ky. (AP) — Alan Chamness says his grandfather didn’t expect him to stay in Henderson more than six months.

Knowing Chamness’ personality, it might be reasonable to understand that. Even at 70 years old, Chamness describes himself as having unmedicated attention-deficit ...

ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, and dozens of members of the Carter family attended worship service at the church where Martin Luther King Jr. once preached.

News outlets report more than 40 members of the Carter family joined the ...

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A former Southern Baptist official was indicted in Texas on charges related to the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl in 1997, when he was a 25-year-old seminary student in Fort Worth.

Mark Aderholt, now 47, was indicted by a Tarrant County grand jury Tuesday on ...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Louisville-based Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on Wednesday disclosed its ties to slavery, detailing decades of racism and how its four founders owned more than 50 slaves.

Its 71-page report found the school, the oldest seminary associated with the ...

HOUSTON (AP) — A former Houston minister has been accused of embezzling more than $800,000 from his church.

Jerrell Altic appeared in court Tuesday after surrendering to authorities.

A grand jury indicted the 40-year-old on Monday on a theft charge.

WENTWORTH, N.C. (AP) — A Baptist pastor and private school principal has pleaded guilty to performing inappropriate sex acts and sending several nude pictures to an underage girl in North Carolina.

The News & Record of Greensboro

CULPEPER, Va. (AP) — Hundreds gathered this month at Culpeper Baptist Church for a time of respectful reflection in remembrance of the lynching 100 years ago of Charles “Allie” Thompson.

The two-hour event, both solemn and joyful, ended outside the nearby local jail, from where the young ...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Baptist Convention has cut ties with more than 12 churches that showed support for an organization that lifted a ban this year on hiring LGBTQ employees.

NATALBANY, La. (AP) — A Louisiana man has been reunited with his high school class ring that went missing 32 years ago.

The Daily Star of Hammond reports the ring was found in Wiggins, Mississippi, and recently returned to ...

NICHOLS, S.C. (AP) — Craig Graham spent part of a recent Saturday morning on his hands and knees behind the sanctuary in Nichols Baptist Church, taking up flooring that congregants had worked to place about 18 months ago after Hurricane Matthew.

Elsewhere in the church four dehumidifiers ...

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Looking back, the Rev. Cortez R. Miller imagined he would become a pastor at the age of 30, but last Sunday, the 30-year-old celebrated his fifth pastoral anniversary at Moore’s Baptist Church.

“It all happened so fast,” said the husband and father of three. “I ...

FALMOUTH, Va. (AP) — A state historical marker will be dedicated to a Baptist church established in 1868 by 27 African-Americans who selected a former slave as the church’s first pastor.

The marker issued by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources will be dedicated Saturday at the ...

WENTWORTH, N.C. (AP) — A Baptist pastor in North Carolina who also is the principal at a Baptist academy is accused of sex offenses with a minor.

News outlets report 48-year-old Kevin Scott Heffner was arrested Wednesday on charges including statutory sex offense and disseminating obscene ...

BUCKINGHAM, Va. (AP) — Pastor Paul was nursing a sore throat, but as he preached on a sleepy Sunday morning in his little country church, he felt a rising sense of urgency.

“Turning points!” the Rev. Paul Wilson shouted. Like the biblical Paul on the road to Damascus, he said. Like his ...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The operators of an Oklahoma church camp where a man working as a cook raped a 13-year-old Texas girl have settled a lawsuit with the girl’s family.

The Oklahoman

BEAVERTON, Ore. (AP) — The former director of operations at a Baptist church in western Oregon has denied stealing $70,000 from the church.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that 54-year-old Scott Edward Moore pleaded not guilty Tuesday to seven felony ...

TRUSSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Two Alabama mission teams have returned back to the state after being stranded in Haiti for days amid a government spike in fuel prices.

News outlets report that the Faith Community Church team in Trussville and group members from First Baptist Church in ...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The United States’ largest black denomination has convened its annual meeting in Oklahoma City, and its leaders are denouncing the separation of immigrant children from families at the border.

The Rev. Jerry Young, who is president of the National Baptist Convention ...

ALBANY, Ga. (AP) — Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention are expelling a Georgia church that was accused of racial discrimination.

The denomination’s media office tweeted Monday that members of the executive committee had voted to withdraw fellowship from Raleigh White Baptist Church ...

The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, is holding its annual meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday in Dallas. Here are some facts about the SBC:

SIZE:

The SBC consists of 47,272 churches with a total membership of about 15.2 million. ...

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A federal judge has thrown out a legal settlement that would require Kentucky to monitor faith-based foster homes to make sure they don’t use public money to evangelize children in the state’s care.

The ruling is part of a nearly 20-year-old lawsuit challenging state ...

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A former head of the Southern Baptist Convention has been terminated from a Texas seminary over his handling of a sexual abuse case at another institution.

The Star-Telegram reports that ...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah Senate candidate Mike Kennedy is defending a prominent Baptist minister who has come under fire from Mitt Romney and others for his past criticism of Mormonism, Islam and Judaism. 

Kennedy told the