Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Good News has come into the World
A sermon by Howard Batson, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Amarillo, Tx. Philippians 2:1-18 October 20, 2013 There is an old Jewish joke that says if you’ve got two rabbis, you’ve probably got three opinions. The...
Solomon: Wisdon Has Its Limits
A sermon by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ar October 20, 2013 1 Kings 4:29-34, 11:9-10; Luke 10:21-24 Solomon was not like his father David in many respects. Let us count the ways......
Brave Heart
A sermon by Robert Browning, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Frankfort, Ky. October 20, 2013 Luke 18:1-8 I borrowed the title of the sermon today from the 1995 movie Mel Gibson directed and starred in, Braveheart. This...
Nagging God
A sermon by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo. Luke 18:1-8 The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost October 13, 2013 Habakkuk 1:1-2:4; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; The disciples gave Jesus a pop...
Will Churches Overcome Their Generational Divides?
Several years ago, my church toyed with "contemporary" worship by using guitars, drums and choruses. The process was a tough one for a church that championed liturgy and tradition. There were long worship committee...
Achieving Consensus: A Better Path Than Divisiveness
It is natural to ponder what lessons might be learned from our national drama for use on the local stages of family, church and community life where most of us live. We sit in the stands for the "big events," watching...
Baptist Worker Helps Ugandan Farmers Hit by Floods
Gareth Shrubsole, a BMS World Mission worker in western Uganda, was taken aback by the devastation he saw in the Kasese district when heavy rains brought flooding on May 1. "I've never been anywhere where there has...
Why the Reformation is Important to Small Churches
If Reformation Sunday is about anything, it's about big theology. Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli and John Knox loom large as veritable giants in the history of the church. These Reformers crafted big, new...
EthicsDaily.com Netcast Deals with Burnout in Small Churches
Given that there are more small churches than mid- or large-sized churches, many pastors will eventually serve a small church. The small church was the topic for EthicsDaily.com's first live netcast. EthicsDaily.com...
Recovering a Moral Critique of Debt
Progressive Christians have a truncated moral agenda when it comes to economic debt. They prioritize immediate federal spending and gloss over the adverse, long-term consequences of the federal debt. They often...
Baptist Minister Learns Lesson on Greek Veranda
The soft rain slowly fell just beyond the edge of the balcony. Because of its larger size, this blessed appendage – which hangs out over the street, four stories below – is referred to by the Greeks as a veranda. How...
Reformation Teaches Us the Power of Preaching
The last Sunday of October is Reformation Sunday – a time to look back on one of the "great reversals" in the history of the church, to use Phyllis Tickle's term, the ripples of which we still minister out of today....
Lebanese Baptists Help to Serve Syrian Refugees
The situation in Syria is tragic, but the small Christian community in the region is sharing God's love with thousands of refugees. So says Nabil Costa, the executive director of the Lebanese Baptist Society (LSESD)...
Now, that’s familiar
By John Pierce Recent Tea Party antics may have you thinking, “I’ve seen this show before.” If so, perhaps you recall the Fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. More than mere...
Why you should chew your fingernails
Perhaps you saw one of the recent articles about how the Kenya Wildlife Service is planning to implant microchips in the horns of every rhino in its country, hoping it will help them to track, capture, and prosecute...
Clergy Neglect Themselves While Serving Marginalized
Poverty. Unemployment. Homelessness. Poorly funded school systems. Crime. Alcohol and drug abuse. Lack of access to quality health care. Transportation problems. Mental and physical illness. Family breakdown. Teen...
New Study Reveals 30 Million Enslaved Globally
Slavery is not a subject confined to history books, as nearly 30 million people are enslaved globally. Walk for Freedom Foundation issued a "Global Slavery Index" last week, estimating the number of enslaved persons in...
5 Things to Look for in Next Great Reformation
On Oct. 31, 1517, German monk Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation, which changed everything in the West: church, state and society. The Middle Ages swung into the Modern Age on the hinge of the...
Self-Preservation Takes Toll on Many Churches, Pastors
A young pastor was recently recounting the events that led to his dismissal. Throughout the painful ordeal, he had relied upon a small group of spiritually mature, trusted advisers to help him navigate the...
Baptists Have Good Reason to Identify with the Reformation
Should Baptists spend time and effort identifying with the Reformation? Over the years, Baptists of varying stripes have debated this with differing opinions. Some think of us as rooted in the first century, glossing...
What Does the Future Hold for Small Churches?
Gil Rendle's book, "Journey in the Wilderness: New Life for Mainline Churches," compares where the church is today with the wilderness journey Moses and the Israelites were on for 40 years. Near the end of the book,...