Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Why We’ve Abandoned Life, Liberty and Happiness
The Fourth of July is almost here! This midsummer holiday offers an opportunity for families and friends to gather and celebrate the freedoms of our nation. Food, fireworks and patriotic music draw us together for a...
Church Unity: Lessons from an Unlikely Source – Part 2
Christianity too often has been divided as a result of failing to emphasize unity amid its various faith expressions. Missiologist Paul Hiebert has offered a positive alternative, sketching out two ways to determine...
June 30, 2016
Ku Klux Klan Dreams of Rising Again 150 Years After Founding (Atlanta Journal Constitution) A Christian Challenges His Co-Religionists: 'Act More Christian Than White' (The Atlantic) Evangelical Leader Backpedals on...
Observations on CBF’s 25th Anniversary
More important than the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's programs, policies and press releases were the people at its 25th anniversary events in Greensboro, North Carolina. Here's a short list of who I saw - and what...
Church Unity: Lessons from an Unlikely Source – Part 1
A new word keeps showing up in the news describing radical Islamic groups - "takfīr." It's the English transliteration of an Arabic word that means "to anathematize" or "to declare someone apostate or an infidel." The...
Georgia Baptist Pastors Tempted With Reach for Power
A huge billboard in south Georgia in state Sen. Josh McKoon's district bears witness of Georgia Baptist Convention money being spent for his support of "religious liberty" legislation. Gov. Nathan Deal, a Baptist,...
Philanthropic Giving Influenced by Mission, Not Tax Benefits
The primary motivation for philanthropic gifts was a belief in an organization's mission for 81 percent of U.S. adults who donated in the past year, according to a Gallup survey. Only 8 percent of respondents cited tax...
Thick books, thick heads and religious freedom
By John D. Pierce In many churches the thickest book to be found is neither the Bible nor the hymnal. It is the wedding policies and procedures manual. Rules and regulations are many and varied. Churches have the...
BCE Celebrates 25 Years, Honors Molly Marshall, Previews Forthcoming Documentary
Around 200 Baptists joined Baptist Center for Ethics' staff and board members to celebrate its 25th anniversary on Friday, June 24. Molly T. Marshall, president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee,...
When Days Seem Darkest, Hope Still Trumps Despair
Recent events in the news have a lot of people upset and wondering, "What is this world coming to?" The massacre in Orlando, in particular, causes one to question the sanity of humankind. How could anyone do such a...
June 28, 2016
Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Abortion Access Law (CNN) There's a Deep Divide in How Blacks and White See Race. New Numbers Prove It. (Los Angeles Times) Mississippi Lawmakers React to Southern Baptist Condemning...
Good game, Brent
By John D. Pierce It might not have rivaled Lou Gehrig’s “luckiest man” speech in 1939, but neither was the situation so dire. However, J. Brent Walker gave an inspiring farewell address to about 750 friends and...
God’s Grace Doesn’t Require Additional Rules
"Sesame Street" was one of my favorite television shows as a child. The segment on the show that I most looked forward to seeing regularly was the one where characters would figure out what object in a group of four...
Few Churches Mirror Percentage of Younger Adults in U.S.
Younger adults comprise 23 percent of the U.S. population, but that portion of young people is found in only one in 10 local churches, according to a Faith Communities Today (FACT) analysis. Eighteen percent of...
June 27, 2016
Trump Aide Mum on Dobson's Assertion that Trump is a 'Baby Christian' (CNN) Ark Tourist Attraction to Tap Into Christian Curiosity (11 Alive) Harper, Kansas Police Chief in Trouble Over Bible Verse on His Patrol Truck...
Why Churches Must Take the Right Kind of Risks
The word "risk" carries differing meanings for congregations. Appropriately, churches need to talk honestly and always about the need for "risk management," particularly as congregations must have processes that...
Trump’s Meeting with Conservative Christians Sparks Definitional Issues
Donald Trump greeted about 1,000 Christian pastors and leaders in New York City on Tuesday to make the pitch for why Christians should vote for him in November. The event sparked a frenzy of media coverage, leading...
June 24, 2016
Cooperative Baptists Remember Victims of Mass Shootings, Hear About Global Missions Renewal (CBF) Survey: White Evangelicals Say US No Longer a Christian Nation (Religion News Service) 5 Key Findings About Global...
A boat with room and love for all …
Meetings for state and regional groups associated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship are a standard element of CBF's Annual Gathering and for North Carolina CBFers, always a highlight. This year's gathering...
6 Ways Your Church or Ministry Can Flourish
Three ministries I met with recently asked the same question: "How do we grow?" One was a conference where the average age has kept creeping upward, and a sea of gray hair dominated the audience. Yet, for the first...
Teaching Children to be Heroes in Selfish World
Each week a new story in the news takes social media by storm and dominates the online conversation. The story of the appalling crime, disappointing trial and lenient conviction of Brock Turner has filled my feed...