Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Break the chain, please
Did you get one of those chain emails claiming that a bunch of churches in Charlotte tried to send gift baskets to representatives at the Democratic National Convention, but the Democrats refused them because they came...
Sustainability “ An Issue All of Us Must Solve
Sustainability has become one of the most important issues in our time, and in a hundred years, it may be the single most important issue. We have heard that if we do not sustain our resources, we are on the road to...
Taliban Shooting Doesn’t Reflect Spirit of Islam
I have a number of Muslim friends, with whom I have laughed, argued, shared food; to whom I have listened, spoken and whom I deeply respect, a feeling that is mutual. Earlier this year, I conducted the funeral of a...
Skype Interview: Don Sewell on “Faith in Action” at Baylor Health
Baylor Health Care System has created an office to coordinate efforts to provide healing both at home and abroad. "We're not just trying to put another feather in our cap here," says Don Sewell, director of Faith in...
Great Themes of the Bible: Sin
A sermon delivered by Joel Snider, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga., on September 30, 2012. Genesis 3 Meditation Text: The consciousness of sin is the essential condition for understanding Christianity. This is...
All That Jazz
A sermon delivered by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo., on October 7, 2012. Mark 10:2-16 The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost I love Donald Miller’s kooky memoir of how he...
Job: a Broken Man
A sermon delivered by Jim Somerville, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va., on October 7, 2012. The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost Job: 1:1, 2:1-10 There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job....
What Does God Talk Like?
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on October 7, 2012. Psalm 26:1-12; Hebrews 1:1-4 In the summer of 2003 Janet and I were taking a boat tour of Loch Ness, in...
Great Themes of the Bible: Law
A sermon delivered by Joel Snider, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga., on October 7, 2012. Matthew 5:17-20 Morning Prayer: O God, our Father, we thank you that in your loving kindness toward us you have given us...
Who Needs Your Help to Get Well?
A sermon delivered by Robert Browning, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Frankfort, Ky., on October 7, 2012. Communion Devotion Isaiah 53:1-5 Something very significant happened in the life of our church last week, and I...
4 Indicators That Pastors are Fulfilling Their Passion
"We need a pastor who wakes up in the morning thinking about advancing the mission of this church."– Chair of a pastor search team "Were not our hearts burning within us?"– Emmaus Road disciples after a brush with...
When Times Are Hard, Then You See the Challenges
In response to the crushing economic crisis in Greece, I have been working to improve my greatly underutilized capacity to empathize with my Greek and Albanian friends. As I have turned up the volume on my faulty...
Why Your Church Needs Facebook, Twitter Presence
When it began, the worldwide web was like a newspaper or a book: there were pages other people had published that you could read if you wanted. You could even publish your own pages, with a bit of effort, but...
Feel like a minority yet?
Protestants in America made big news this week -- by oficially becoming a minority. A major study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in 2007 showed that American Protestants, at 51.3 percent of the...
4 Steps to Avoid a Church’s Biggest Conflict
There is a consistent theme in the conversations I have with clergy and laity alike about what frustrates or challenges them most. Without a doubt, it is staff. Every pastor's gathering in which we ask for issues that...
Vatican II Led to Positive Course Correction
It was 50 years ago this month, on Oct. 11, 1962, that the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) opened in St. Peter's Basilica. Convoked by Pope John XXIII, it closed in December 1965 under Pope Paul VI. Vatican II was...
How Personal Belief, Public Morality Work Together
Somewhere between personal and public morality there is a line that often enables us to focus on the one and be negligent of the other. But the sometimes awkward dance of personal beliefs and public policies can and...
Baptists Help Syrians Displaced by Civil War
The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is leading a response to assist Syrians displaced by the civil war in the Middle Eastern country. Baptists around the world are being encouraged to make donations to the BWA to...
Why You Can Be Happy in Our Broken World
In an old Peanuts cartoon, Lucy asks Charlie Brown, "Did you ever know anyone who was really happy?" Before he answers, that effervescent Snoopy dances into the scene – head flung back, ears streaming in the wind, a...
Baptist Seminary in Europe to Begin New Chapter
I was in Berlin recently for the meetings of the European Baptist Federation. We took the painful decision to sell the buildings in Prague, which have been the home of the International Baptist Theological Seminary...
A Prayer for the Priestly
Editor's note: The following prayer was shared by Trevor Barton at First Baptist Church in Greenville, S.C., on Sept. 30, 2012. Dear God, As my son, Zeke, says in his daily prayers, so I say in our prayer this morning,...