The Alabama Baptist Staff

AUBURN, Ala. – Chette Williams, a longtime Auburn University football chaplain, died Dec. 15 after falling into the water at Lake Martin while getting off his pontoon boat. He was 61 years old.

SHELBY COUNTY, Ala. (BP) -- Former Chalkville pastor Kenneth Daniel was released from one jail and taken to another Feb. 27, where he was charged with four counts of sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (BP) -- A Jefferson County church has terminated its youth director after he was arrested on child pornography charges. Adam Lewis, a middle school teacher and wrestling coach at Pelham Park Middle School, was arrested Jan. 25.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (BP) -- A lawsuit filed in Tuscaloosa County on July 7 alleges leaders of a church trip to the beach abandoned two boys who were accused but later cleared of sexual battery charges.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (BP) -- An arsonist attacked First Baptist Church in the early morning hours Thursday (Sept. 30), causing extensive damage throughout the campus.

DAPHNE, Ala. (BP) -- Every four years messengers to the Alabama Baptist State Convention have traveled to the milder climate of south Alabama to worship, fellowship and conduct business. Temperatures, however, dropped to record lows during the Nov. 12-13 sessions at Eastern Shore Baptist Church in Daphne on Mobile Bay. The meeting nevertheless remained "Fruitful," in a theme centered on John 15:5.

MARION, Ala. (BP) -- W. Mark Tew has been elected as the 23rd president of Judson College, a four-year women's college founded in 1838 and affiliated with the Alabama Baptist Convention. Tew has served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, since 2007. Tew began his career in higher education in 1987 at Judson as a religion professor. In the 20 years that followed, he served as the college's chief finance officer, chief development officer and chief academic officer.

PELL CITY, Ala. (BP) -- Approving the relocation of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions' office and a flat $40 million Cooperative Program budget for 2017 topped business items addressed by messengers during their state convention annual meeting Nov. 15–16. Messengers also unanimously elected John Thweatt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Pell City, as president and adopted five resolutions, four of them related to social and religious issues. The convention theme for the 194th annual meeting was "Sent … Here, There and Everywhere."

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) -- Jennifer Davis Rash has been named editor-elect of The Alabama Baptist newspaper in a succession plan for editor Bob Terry. Terry, a 50-year veteran in Christian journalism, told the newspaper's board of directors during an Oct. 7-8 meeting in Birmingham, "At some point I will finalize my plans for retirement, and as I do so, it will be with great appreciation for the action of this board of directors and with great confidence in the future of this ministry.

BATON ROUGE, La. (BP) -- Working as part of his church's disaster relief team, Sonny Ellis died while doing what he did best -- serving people. "He was showing the people of Denham Springs, La., an example of what Jesus would do," said Roy Hill, pastor of First Baptist Church in Satsuma, La. On Sept. 1, Ellis had just placed a load of laundry in a washing machine with his church's disaster relief laundry unit, which was in operation helping flood survivors of the historic flooding in south Louisiana. A little before lunch, Ellis, 72, lost his ...