Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
June 23, 2016
Through Deliberative Dialogue, CBF Seeks to Model the Way of 'Unity Through Cooperation' (CBF) CBF Governing Board Forms Task Force on Clergy Sexual Misconduct (CBF) Pew Study: How Different Religious Groups View...
BWIM releases “State of Women in Baptist Life”
Baptist Women in Ministry met for worship and released a new “State of Women in Baptist Life” update during activities at the First Baptist Church on Fifth in Winston-Salem June 22. Executive director Pam Durso...
Access to Clean Drinking Water is Justice Issue
Finland, "the land of a thousand lakes," welcomed the delegates of the 11th assembly of the European Christian Environmental Network (ECEN) who gathered in the Sofia Cultural Centre in Helsinki from June 11-15. The...
Balancing Two Visions in Baptist Life
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Georgia held our spring general assembly at the First Baptist Church in Athens, Georgia, a little over 18 years ago. I had been on the job as executive coordinator for six months...
June 22, 2016
CBF Field Personnel, CBF North Carolina Partner to Provide “Welcome” to Syrian Refugee Families (CBF) Trump Taps Outgoing Southern Baptist Head for Religious Board (Tennessean) Trump Thrills Christian Conservative...
Southern Baptists Ding Obama, Discuss ‘Elephant in the Room’
President Barack Obama was criticized and presidential candidate Donald Trump was subtly promoted during the recent annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). O.S. Hawkins, president of GuideStone,...
2 Paths to Travel: An Ethics of Purity or Wholeness?
Our collective dismay and compassion for victims and for our human family in general is immediate and profound in the aftermath of such horrific events as the Orlando shooting. Some have observed that we as a society...
UN Commission: ISIS Committing Genocide Against Yazidis
The United Nations' Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic has determined that the Islamic State (ISIS / Daesh) is committing genocide against the Yazidi people. Following an...
June 21, 2016
Evangelicals Set to Meet Donald Trump in NYC Dialogue to 'Know Him Better' (Christianity Today) 'Unprecedented' 65 Million People Displaced by War and Persecution in 2015 (UN News Centre) LGBT Christian Video Series...
Georgia Baptists ramp up mission of discrimination
By John D. Pierce The Georgia Baptist Mission Board is on a mission. But it may not be the one you’d expect. A recent letter to pastors of affiliated churches from J. Robert White, executive director of the statewide...
7 Changes the Future Holds for Local Churches
Much talk about the state of the local church today is negative. As some look at declining attendance and giving statistics, they wonder if the church will continue to exist much longer. It would be a big mistake to...
Baptist Church in South Sudan Helping IDPs With Limited Supplies
First Baptist Church in Kajo Keji, South Sudan, is struggling to find sufficient supplies to help the more than 200 internally displaced persons (IDPs) it is hosting. Edward Dima, pastor of the congregation, told...
June 20, 2016
Mississippi Southern Baptist Pastors Discuss SBC Vote on Confederate Flag (Biloxi Sun-Herald) In Wake of Orlando, Conservative Faith Leaders Won't Say 'Gay' (Wisconsin Gazette) Orlando Vigil and Church Services Urge...
Taking the First Tense Step Toward Racial Unity
Today is the first anniversary of the shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. On June 17, 2015, nine black members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, including Pastor Clementa Carlos Pinckney, were gunned...
Let’s Take Care of the Home We All Share
It seems like Christians, who have been explicitly called to love one another and to work together for the Kingdom of God, spend an inordinate amount of time fussing and fighting. This happens in both individual...
June 17, 2016
A Year Later, Charleston Families Still Reeling from Church Shooting (Reuters) How the Rebel Flag Rose Again, and Is Helping Trump (Politico) Donald Trump's Racism Repeals Black Republicans (Daily Beast) White...
Timing matters
By John D. Pierce The 2016 Southern Baptist Convention is formally opposed to racism. Good for them. Is late better than never? Sure. But as comedians, musicians and baseball hitters tell us: timing is very important....
Beauty and the beast
Long drives are not necessarily conducive to a good vacation, unless the drive is the point, in which case it can be amazing. Susan and I set out last week to spend several days driving the length of the Blue Ridge...
Southern Baptists Adopt Controversial Resolution on Israel
Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) messengers adopted in St. Louis on Tuesday during the annual meeting a resolution deemed by some Arab Baptist leaders as unbiblical and harmful to their peacemaking efforts. The...
Why 59 Percent of Evangelical Pastors are Wrong About Islam
What pops into the mind of the average American if you ask him or her about Muslims? Is it something like this? "Muslims are terrorists." "I fear Muslims. They want to take over our country." "I am very suspicious of...
U.S. Confidence in Organized Religion Declines Again: Gallup
U.S. confidence in national institutions remains near record lows, a Gallup poll found, with 10 of the 14 seeing a decade of decline in trust. "Americans' confidence in key U.S. institutions has remained relatively low...