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  Some churches say they’ll sing no carol before its time

  Posted: 12/16/05

  Some churches say they'll
  sing no carol before its time

  By Ken Camp

  Managing Editor

  The starting date and finish line for singing carols in church depend on whether a congregation follows the Christian calendar or the Hallmark calendar–and how constrained worship leaders feel by their choice.

  12/16/2005 - By John Rutledge

• 

  Unlikely allies defend ‘Merry Christmas’ greeting

  Posted: 12/16/05

  Unlikely allies defend 'Merry Christmas' greeting

  By Andrea Useem

  Religion News Service

  WASHINGTON (RNS)–The movement defending Christmas as a Christian holiday has attracted some unlikely allies–religiously observant Jews and Muslims.

  12/16/2005 - By John Rutledge

• 

  Second Opinion: The cheering of Christmas

  Posted: 12/16/05

  SECOND OPINION:
  The cheering of Christmas

  By BO Baker

  We all need the cheering of Christmas. It seems the whole world recently has experienced the heaviness of hurt, stain marks unabated, and questions that have struck in powerful forms of aftershock. Name a nation–any one will do–that has been exempt from the clash of swords, the heavy thunder of drums announcing new vistas of crime.

  Yes, without question, we need the cheering of Christmas.

  12/16/2005 - By John Rutledge

• 

  DOWN HOME A long walk into the future

  Posted: 12/16/05

  DOWN HOME:
  A long walk into the future

  The Big Day is nigh upon us.

  By the time you read this, Aaron Britt Kahler, otherwise known as “The Most Fortunate Young Man in the Universe,” will have married our oldest daughter, Lindsay Michelle Knox.

  Due to the persistent demands of publishing schedules, I'm writing this a few days before the big wedding. Still, I'm looking ahead, anticipating that day.

  12/16/2005 - By John Rutledge

• 

  EDITORIAL Have a Merry Christmas this year

  Posted: 12/16/05

  EDITORIAL:
  Have a Merry Christmas this year

  This season may be remembered as the time when Christians went ballistic over Christmas.

  In the good old days, a sign proclaiming “Merry Xmas” would send many folks huffing. The abbreviation, infamously substituting “X” for “Christ,” prompted pointed-yet-benign counter-slogans, such as “Let's Keep Christ in Christmas” and “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.”

  Back then, “X” marked the spot for “Christ,” retaining the word, if not spelling it correctly. Now, many folks would gladly accept the occasional “Xmas” sign or advertisement. At least when people say the word, they pronounce it right: “Christmas.”

  12/16/2005 - By John Rutledge

• Howard Payne launches new graduate degree

  Posted: 12/16/05

  Howard Payne launches new graduate degree

  By Laura Johnson

  Howard Payne University

  BROWNWOOD–Howard Payne University–the only Texas Baptist school to offer an undergraduate degree in youth ministry–will offer a master of arts in youth ministry beginning in fall 2006.

  12/16/2005 - By John Rutledge

• 

  Louisiana College retains accreditation

  Posted: 12/16/05

  Louisiana College retains accreditation

  By Brian Blackwell

  Associated Baptist Press

  PINEVILLE, La. (ABP)–Louisiana College will remain fully accredited, school officials learned recently, after the Baptist school rescinded several policies critics said impinged on academic freedom.

  12/16/2005 - By Brian Blackwell

• Boggs selected for Louisiana paper

  Posted: 12/16/05

  Boggs selected for Louisiana paper

  By Greg Warner

  Associated Baptist Press

  ALEXANDRIA, La. (ABP)–Trustees of the Baptist Message of Louisiana, who last month were rebuffed in an effort to dissolve their independent board, unanimously elected conservative Oregon pastor Kelly Boggs as editor.

  12/16/2005 - By John Rutledge

• 

  Narnia movie prompts renewed debate about Lewis

  Posted: 12/16/05

  Narnia movie prompts
  renewed debate about Lewis

  By Karen Long

  C.S. Lewis–Oxford professor, Christian apologist and author of beloved children's stories–continues to defy easy categorization.

  Religion News Service

  WASHINGTON (RNS)–At a desperate moment in the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, as the lion's tortured, lifeless body lies on a stone table, the writer pauses over the stricken child characters, Lucy and Susan.

  12/16/2005 - By John Rutledge

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  Narnia movie echoes books’ themes

  Posted: 12/16/05

  Narnia movie echoes books' themes

  By Ted Parks

  Associated Baptist Press

  Whether viewers find a distinctly Christian message in the new movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe depends on whether they found one in the C.S. Lewis fantasy novel it's based on, the movie's creators insist.

  12/16/2005 - By John Rutledge

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  On the Move

  Posted: 12/16/05

  On the Move

  Byron Ayres has resigned as student minister at Mildred Church in Corsicana to serve a church in North Carolina.

  Lance Bishop to First Church in Buffalo as student minister.

  Mickie Chitwood to Ephesus Church in Jewett as music minister.

  12/16/2005 - By John Rutledge

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  Baptist women knit scarves, bake cookies for exotic dancers

  Posted: 12/16/05

  Volunteers at Central Baptist Church in Round Rock knit scarves for women working in 'gentlemen's clubs.'

  Baptist women knit scarves,
  bake cookies for exotic dancers

  By John Hall

  Texas Baptist Communications

  ROUND ROCK–Cindy Stokes is making the Christmas season a little warmer for a group of women who work in sexually oriented businesses.

  12/16/2005 - By John Rutledge