How we’ve changed

Friday Roundup for July 24, 2026

Often I get questions about why BNG publishes the content we do and how our editorial decisions are made. Some accuse us of being leftists; others accuse us of being incendiary; and others accuse us of not being safe to recommend to fellow church members. Others wonder what in the world we’ll write about once Donald Trump gets deposed or dies.

To address these concerns and others, it’s helpful to go back to the beginning and remember how we’ve changed over the past 36 years. This is our birthday month, after all.

When we were founded in 1990, Associated Baptist Press was a response to an urgent need. Led by Paul Pressler, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee fired the two editors of Baptist Press, the SBC’s once-lauded news service. They were fired because Dan Martin and Al Shackleford refused to kowtow to Pressler’s demands for news coverage that masked his dirty tricks to turn the denomination to the far right.

“When we were founded in 1990, Associated Baptist Press was a response to an urgent need.”

In those days, the primary users of BP copy were the 42 state and regional Baptist newspapers — most weeklies — and the religion editors of the nation’s major daily newspapers. A group of those editors and others of us in the production pipeline believed BP no longer could be trusted, so a new autonomous news service was founded.

ABP was to collect content from the various state Baptist papers, combine that with a bit of original reporting, and then redistribute that content — via daily faxes, no less. That was the agenda for a few years, and at one point ABP even published a slick magazine and distributed a printable handout for church midweek fellowship meals and Bible studies.

Across the first decade or so, we went from supplying content to print newspapers to supplying content directly to churches to, ultimately, supplying content directly to readers like you with no middlemen. Three things drove that change:

First, the cowardice and then the death of most state Baptist newspapers. Those who courageously founded ABP often lost their courage to publish our content when their state conventions fell in line with the SBC. The political pressure was too great. And then in time most of the state papers either went out of business or became online shadows of their former selves.

Second, the idea of churches as mass consumers of news had its roots in the sales model of the old state papers. Many of us — and I was one of those editors — lived and died by the church newspage. That was a way weekly state papers sold the covers or back pages of their newspapers for church newsletter content, customizing an edition for churches in order to get them to purchase the newspaper. In its heyday, for example, the Baptist Standard of Texas published 400 editions every week, each with unique church newsletters wrapped around them. For a brief time, ABP embraced this model without the newsletters in hopes of getting churches to share our daily content with all members.

“Third, and most importantly, the internet changed everything.”

Third, and most importantly, the internet changed everything. With the rise of websites and emails and social media, ABP (now known as BNG) didn’t have to rely on any middle distributors of our content. We could deliver all our articles directly to the reader at almost no expense.

Even so, a decade ago, BNG’s content remained largely Baptist-specific. When we merged with the Religious Herald of Virginia to become Baptist News Global, our board and staff intended to reach beyond Baptists in the United States. But we also envisioned more global content in that we wouldn’t just write about denominational news.

Early on, some considered ABP to be the news service of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. That wasn’t true, but it was a common perception because of our close ties to CBF and the fact that we split off from the SBC just one year before CBF was created.

There’s a lot more water under the bridge, but let me jump ahead to the present day. When I assumed leadership of BNG in July 2020, my vision was to make us the premier news, opinion and analysis outlet for progressive Baptists and our adjacent communities. We added reporting on Methodists and Presbyterians and nondenominational groups. We began more frequently tackling larger themes such as Christian nationalism, women in ministry, LGBTQ inclusion, immigration, religious liberty, ex-vangelicals and writing about bigger trends in church and community life.

Then came COVID, which changed everything, including our coverage. Then came the second Trump administration, which changed everything again.

Because we owe no debt to any denomination or institution, we are free to report on what’s relevant right now. We do not have to keep the peace with denominational leaders or opinionated church members. We are free to faithfully document the times we’re living in and help you make sense of that.

We are engaged in “change-making conversations” every day. That’s our niche. And we do it from a center-left vantage editorially. We don’t try to hide that. We publish news articles about a lot of things I personally disagree with, and we publish opinion pieces written by people I disagree with.

There are some boundaries for us editorially, even though we don’t have a doctrinal statement like a school or denomination might have. We will not publish opinion pieces denying the reality that God calls women equally as men to ministry. We will not publish opinion pieces that deny the humanity and God-createdness of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. We will not publish opinion pieces that spread provable lies. We will not publish opinion pieces that deny the existence of God or the witness of Scripture about itself.

I had someone write me this week telling me we were out of line to publish an opinion piece that was negative about President Trump. We owe him respect and should not say mean things about him, the writer said. There’s no room for that in a “Christian” publication, the writer lectured me.

“Too many Christians believe their views of the world are the views we all should adhere to.”

And here is the problem: Too many Christians believe their views of the world are the views we all should adhere to. We all are to be judged by their standards. This is not only egotistical but wrong. We must — we are duty-bound — to sound the alarm when there is a fire. That’s what I tried to say in a brief opinion piece this week addressing why we keep writing about the dangers of the Trump administration. The world is on fire, and we cannot be silent.

I have concerns on the other side, as well, and this will get me skewered by my own people. We published a news articlethis week that in hindsight I wish I hadn’t written. It’s about allegations of sexual harassment against Baylor Universityprofessor David Pooler, whose expertise is researching survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

I had people pressing me to write about this, and I understand why. However, I’ve got some problems with the way this went down and should have listened to my instincts on this. I do not know David Pooler. He is not a friend. We may have met in passing once or twice. I know of his work.

Here’s the rub: The accusations against him originated with an anonymous online post on the Facebook page of a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping survivors of clergy sexual abuse. He had been named to a volunteer role on that group’s advisory board. His employer, Baylor, apparently knew about this former student’s complaints and had not found reason to take any action. But a third-party nonprofit hired an outside group, GRACE, to investigate — to investigate not their employee but a volunteer member of their advisory board.

I am trying to imagine a scenario in which my nonprofit organization would authorize spending money to hire a third party to investigate one of our volunteer board members. This is highly unusual.

GRACE is a reputable organization that has done a lot of good. And in this case, they did what they were hired to do. My question is why they were hired at all.

And my second question is this: Why does the 30-page report contain not a single name of anyone who did the investigation, wrote the report, requested the report or contributed information to the report? The only person named is the accused. That’s not fair. And it’s not a standard we would adhere to in reporting a news story. Which is why I now have second thoughts about publishing the article that is about a report based entirely on anonymous sources.

These are the things that give ammunition to those who would deny the reality of clergy sexual abuse. And yes, I hear from those folks all the time too.

If you read the full report, you’ll see it is largely based on standards that sound reasonable at first but don’t always hold up to further evaluation. One of the accusations against the professor is that he was seen at conferences drinking socially.

Clearly these investigators have not been to the conferences I attend. They have taken a standard that exists only in the most conservative evangelical spaces and assumed it should carry over everywhere.

This is no different than readers who write to me explaining their personal views on journalistic ethics and assuming we should adhere to their assumptions.

From the beginning to today, this job leading ABP and now BNG has required discernment about what’s important and what’s not. This is what we struggle with every day, and that has not changed.

I feel like I got it wrong in this instance this week

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In other news this week:

Baptist preacher and U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock said he is often stumped by evangelical Christians who claim to love Christ but blame the poor for being poor.

“Today, I can finally say the words I’ve been fighting to say for years: Provo Canyon School is officially shut down,” said Paris Hilton last Friday in response to a decision to revoke the institution’s residential treatment license.

Employees already suing U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins over religious freedom violations have urged a judge to stop her continued proselytizing through agency-wide emails as litigation continues.

A July 21 emergency ruling by a federal court saved thousands of lawfully present immigrants from losing work authorization and asylum seekers from the automatic rejection of their cases.

A coalition of Texas religious groups is demanding major reforms to how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcementcarries out its mass deportation operations. Dozens of faith leaders from across the state gathered for a July 22 news conference.

President Donald Trump’s lawsuit seeking $10 billion from the Internal Revenue Service was a total sham, a federal court has ruled.

An online influencer with a penchant for criticizing and lampooning the Trump administration sued the federal government for blocking her from attending a public event where Vice President JD Vance was speaking.

An FBI agent trainee is challenging the Trump administration and FBI Director Kash Patel’s attempts to quash his lawsuit against them for wrongful termination. David Maltinsky was fired in 2025 for displaying a Pride flag at his workstation.

Within the last week, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton has claimed his opponent holds views “antithetical … to historical Christian views” while refusing to answer questions about his own alleged illegal voting.

About a dozen clergy and conservative politicians pleaded with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to postpone an upcoming execution after another inmate’s lethal injection was botched in May.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has rejected the Trump administration’s request to lift a previous ruling barring use of a voter database designed to investigate and potentially purge U.S. citizens from voter rolls across the country.

A historically Black denomination has opened an advocacy center in the heart of Washington, D.C., to protect civil rights, champion religious freedom and to be a voice for the poor and marginalized.

President Donald Trump’s doubling down on ICE traffic stops despite agents’ killing of two motorists proves deadly force is an integral part of the administration’s mass deportation campaign, an immigrant rights leader said.

Fresh from a Supreme Court victory affirming laws that restrict transgender sports participation in 27 mostly red states, Alliance Defending Freedom has a warning for 23 blue states that protect trans rights: “You’re next.”

What remained of a seven-year-old lawsuit filed by a former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary student against former President Paige Patterson has been settled out of court.

Finding the definition of a “biblical church” became a linchpin in the unsuccessful lawsuit filed by some members of Second Baptist Church of Houston against the leadership of their megachurch. Texas Business Court Judge Grant Dorfman dismissed the entire case.

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In other analysis this week:

Is Nolans’ Odyssey woke or a worthy warning? — Josh Olds

In 3 charts: White Christian nationalists’ love of ICE and concentration camps — Robert P. Jones

When we — Baptists and Methodists — were all evangelical — Lovett Weems

Reflections on In the Twilight of the Christian West — David Gushee

Trump’s war on ‘woke’ targets federal grants and foreign relations — Steve Rabey

Men-only gyms seek to protect Christian men from lust — Rick Pidcock

5 takeaways from PRRI on the 2026 midterms — Melissa Deckman

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In other opinion this week:

Supreme Court ruling annuls the idea of ‘Christian America’ — Bill Leonard

Why rural families need support now — Jose Montoya

Can AI help ancient Christian communities worship together? — Jack Nassar

When ‘patriotism’ turns to assault — Lee Enochs

‘Pastor, we’ve never been through this before’ — Tony Tench

America keeps mistaking Black children for threats — Nayo Johnson

Mark Driscoll is a fool who needs to read church history — and the Bible — Rodney Kennedy

Our legacy of dissent — Bill Leonard

When the president targets Muslim kindergartners, families like mine also pay the price — Noor Zoma

What I plan to talk about at Wild Goose Festival — Justin Cox

In conversation with Lizzie McManus-Dail — Greg Garrett

A final word

In closing, I’ve got one favor to ask this week: When you read a BNG article you like or that challenges you or helps you, please consider sharing it with a few friends. It’s easy to find the share icons at the bottom of each page and it just takes a few seconds. Your referrals are the best way to expand our readership and let others know what they’re missing.

Thanks for helping us spread the word.

Mark Wingfield
Executive Director and Publisher
Baptist News Global