Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
On the Road with Jesus: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
A sermon by Jim Somerville, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va. October 27, 2013 The Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost Luke 18:9-14 Last week Dr. Jim Flamming, our Pastor Emeritus, was kind enough to step...
How to Know When Your Church Needs to Scale Back
Our current economy, coupled with the ongoing transitions in congregational life and ministry focus, has combined to create intense pressure on church staffing models. With finances tight, congregations are being...
Often Neglected, All Saints’ Day Offers Moment for Remembrance and Reflection
Some 41 million children from 5 to 14 years old will don costumes, knock on doors, hold out bags or jack-o-lantern buckets, waiting to have them filled with candy. Tonight is Halloween. U.S. Baptists are all too...
Baptist Missionaries Lived Out a Love Better than Life Itself
Adoniram Judson lay starving in a filthy Burmese prison cell in 1824. Every night, his guards passed a long bamboo pole between his shackled legs and those of his fellow prisoners and lifted the pole up until only...
Charge me more, please. Or accept less.
As big cuts in supplemental nutrition programs take effect on Nov. 1, the fast food industry continues to thrive on subsidies from the federal government. There's no law that says congress will pay $1.2 billion...
Learning to Listen for the Common Good
When I sit down with couples who are either married or thinking about marriage, one of the first things we tend to work on is the ability to listen attentively to each other. Listening attentively is more difficult...
Why Child Labor Isn’t Always Bad
The thought of child labor makes me cringe. I envision children spending hours every day in repetitive (and sometimes dangerous) work – forced to earn an income to help the family survive, or, more horrifically,...
Bill Would Require Display of “In God We Trust” in Public School Classrooms
Proposed Pennsylvania legislation, titled "The National Motto Display Act," would require public schools in the state to display "In God We Trust" in all classrooms. The legislation states that the motto "is part of...
What Will It Take to Bring an End to Slavery?
All around the world, vast numbers of people are trapped. Hidden away in farms, brothels, sweatshops, fields, kitchens and mines, these people have had their freedom stolen. They have been bought for the meager sum of...
Megachurch Pastor Takes Issue with Jesus as Pacifist
Seattle-based megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll is no stranger to controversy. He recently wrote a blog titled "Is God a Pacifist?" that has garnered much attention and reaction. Driscoll is currently in the midst of a...
Conference Center Sues Missouri Baptist Convention
A Baptist conference center in Missouri filed a $10 million lawsuit against the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) on Friday, Oct. 25. The suit comes after an EthicsDaily.com exposé about a settlement in a similar case...
Have faith, and avoid being spoiled American Christians
By John Pierce Caution: Those who stir up culture wars in the name of Jesus create the perception that American Christians are fearful and spoiled. Such overreactions, self-pity and doomsday gloom are not consistent...
Give your pastor a break
I was working at a card table in front of the TV on Sunday afternoon so I could keep tabs on the Goody's 500 NASCAR race at Martinsville, and most of the race was typical short-track racing: lots of bumping and...
Curbing Our Resentment as Holidays Secularize
Having had enough of talk about Congress and the Affordable Care Act and "default," let's look ahead, not back. I propose a glance at the calendar, with Thanksgiving Day several weeks off. It is in the news already...
Our Society’s Hero Worship of Athletes
I graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2006, so I was fortunate enough to see Adrian Peterson burst onto the scene. I remember watching Peterson's first collegiate game against the mighty Bowling Green State...
Coaches Help Wounded Pastors Return to Ministry
My doctor of ministry project focused on the impact of coaching for bivocational ministers. Several bivocational ministers were coached as part of this project. This study later became a book, and the following is an...
Psst! Want some Oreos?
You knew it all along, didn't you -- that Oreos are as addictive as cocaine? To lab rats, at least. And I suspect there's a little rat in all of us. The Oreos don't even have to be the deep fried variety currently on...
Our Disposable Lifestyle Accumulates Lots of Trash
After many of us eat fast-food, we throw away the cardboard pizza boxes, Styrofoam burger bins, wax-coated drink cups, plastic utensils and foil condiment containers. More often than not, we discard absolutely...
Reforming Your Church Through Social Media
Churches often say, "We want to grow our membership. We want to reach people where they are. We want to attract young people." But, rarely do we know how to put action to our intentions. Many churches are now seeking...
Popularity, Prevalence of Online Dating in U.S. Increased
Increasing popularity suggests online dating in the U.S. is here to stay. A recent Pew Internet report revealed a significant increase in popularity and prevalence of online dating. "One in ten Americans have used an...
I Shall Not be Put to Shame
A sermon by Howard Batson, First Baptist Church, Amarillo, Tx. Philippians 1:20 October 13, 2013 Last week, we concluded a sermon series from the Old Testament book of Proverbs. And today we begin a sermon series from...