Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
7 Healthy Habits of Congregations on Mission
Building a congregation's life around a clear vision and purpose is an easy thing to believe in. Aligning that purpose with biblical teaching and witness is an agreeable notion. I seldom encounter a leader or...
Churches Handle Change by Learning to Take Risks
A fountain in Washington Park in Albany, New York, offers insight and perspective for local churches. When I first visited, I noticed the beautiful statuary all around the fountain's center. From a distance, I wondered...
Church Resource for Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month
Lists of 20th-century genocides differ widely. Yet, six instances always appear: Armenia (1915), the Holocaust in Germany (1933), Cambodia (1975), Rwanda (1990), Bosnia (1995) and Darfur (2003). Other manifestations of...
Countering Fear-Based Immigration Rhetoric with Facts
Immigration has been called "the oldest and most persistent theme" in U.S. history. Samuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager, two prominent 20th-century historians, offered this observation in their book, "The...
Building Up Church Members To Take On Ministry
I'm hopeful that the days of expecting a congregation's ministry staff to do everything are coming to an end. Volunteers in the congregation are more willing to take on roles within the church, especially when they are...
March 30, 2017
'In God We Trust' License Plates Hit Tennessee Pothole (RNS) Texas Church Bus Crash: 12 Killed, 3 Injured in Collision with Pickup Truck (Fox News) Texas Judge's Prayer Practice Challenged as Unconstitutional (Baptist...
Profiles in Goodwill: Michael Parnell
Michael Parnell is pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. He reviews movies on EthicsDaily.com, which can be found here. 1. Where did you grow up? Lumberton, North Carolina. 2. What is your...
5 Smart Ideas to Incorporate Smartphones in Ministry
What do you do with smartphones during youth group? Really, we could ask this question for all ages in the church, couldn't we? For Generation Z (born between 1996 to 2014), they've always grown up being connected....
Why Seminaries Must Pursue Truth in Post-Truth Culture
We live in an increasingly complex and interdependent world. Yet, as M. Scott Peck illustrates in "The Road Less Traveled and Beyond," the human mind continues its proclivity for simplistic answers and explanations. In...
March 29, 2017
Abortion Opponents Look for a Home in Democratic Party (Roll Call) NC House Votes to Allow Guns in Schools – But Only During Church Services (News & Observer) Christian Media to Address an Evangelical Response to...
Taking Objective, Nuanced Look at Our National History
Helen Zille, the former leader of South Africa's main opposition party and the current premier of the Western Cape, recently tweeted, "For those claiming legacy of colonialism was ONLY negative, think of our...
Recalling History: Refugee Flight Not Limited to Muslims
There are presently more than 63.9 million "persons of concern" in the world. This designation includes refugees, people awaiting recognition as refugees and people who have fled their homes but not sought refuge in...
Podcast: U.S. Prison Population, Crime Rates Declining
Criminal justice reforms in 33 U.S. states have reduced the overall prison population, Pew Charitable Trust reported on its podcast, "After the Facts." Crime rates also have declined. The U.S. prison population began...
March 28, 2017
Educator, Innovator David Cassady Named President of Baptist Seminary of Kentucky (Nurturing Faith) Evolution and Religion: Finding Middle Ground in the Biology Classroom (Arizona State University) This Unpaid Pensions...
Educator, innovator David Cassady named president of Baptist Seminary of Kentucky
By John D. Pierce, Executive Editor, Nurturing Faith Journal GEORGETOWN, Ky. — The Baptist Seminary of Kentucky (BSK) has named Christian educator, publisher and consultant David Cassady, founder of the communications...
The Difficult Decision to Emigrate, Leave Family Behind
How do you feel when your parents migrate to the U.S. and leave you behind? This wasn't an easy question for students to answer in El Salvador. Seven of us, all Baptists, visited an inner-city high school, Instituto...
4 Trends to Build Successful Communities of Care
Faith communities make a positive impact in supporting caregivers. In a recent joint effort by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and RTI International, researchers explored five interfaith communities...
March 27, 2017
Can Religious Charities Take the Place of the Welfare State? (The Atlantic) Immigrants Find Sanctuary in Growing Austin Church Network (ABC13) Disappearing Churches: Downtown Charleston Congregations Cope With Big...
The road still taken …
Woman's Missionary Union (WMU) has been about missions from the beginning, and that has not changed. As always, missions was at the forefront as more than 600 North Carolina Baptist women and other guests gathered at...
‘The Shack’
What does one do with a grief that is not normal? By not normal, I mean a grief that comes as the result of a heinous crime or tragedy. "The Shack," based on the novel by William Paul Young, tells the story of a father...
Handing Out Cash Won’t Help People Who Beg – Part 2
Churches are on the front line of responding to homelessness because of how often people call on their doors asking for money. I grew up in a vicarage and homeless people (or "tramps" as we called them) used to come to...