Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Did “Bearing False Witness” Drop Off Top Ten?
My earliest memory of encountering the Ten Commandments was in Mr. Orth's Sunday school class in the junior department. Some of them were relatively easy to understand: "Don't kill, don't steal, don't worship other...
Baptist Calls Christians to Think about Environment Through Trinity
Noting that 40 years have passed since the first United Nations conference on environmental issues urged governments to protect the natural environment and advance sustainability, a European Baptist theologian said...
Baptist Panel: Church Must Embrace Technology
Technology is a reality that will have to be embraced by the church. This was the general consensus at a forum on technology and ministry that was held July 2 during the annual gathering of the Baptist World Alliance...
A bus with a view
OK, I admit it: I played hooky from the Baptist World Alliance meetings on Wednesday. I skipped the half-hour 8:00 a.m. worship time, bypassed a Theological Education and Leadership Commission meeting (I'll be at the...
Why First Amendment Freedoms are Real Bargain
The First Amendment is an amazing bargain! It is a grand symbol of freedom itself as it offers not one, but five freedoms for the price of one. Can you name them? Here they are: â— Speech. The First Amendment says...
Baptists Honor Helwys’ Freedom Letter 400 Years Ago to English King
Global Baptists paid homage in Santiago, Chile, to an Englishman, who wrote a book 400 years ago to King James of England, appealing for religious freedom at a time when kings believed that they had the divine right to...
On Independence Day, What Are You Thankful For?
Every day of my life, I give thanks for being an American. I had nothing to do with where I was born, but I am grateful for this accident of birth. I mean no disrespect to any other country. I was born into a...
Meetings and mountains …
Tuesday at the Baptist World Alliance annual gathering, meeting in Santiago Chile this year, was given over to an opening worship service, a fine buffet lunch, and meetings upon meetings upon meetings. The BWA includes...
BWA is underway …
The 2012 General Assembly of the Baptist World Alliance got underway Monday in Santiago Chile. Santiago is surrounded by mountains, which for the most part have remained hidden by clouds. Monday's meetings included...
Preparations in High Gear for 2015 Baptist World Congress
The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) has signed two major contracts in preparation for the 21st Baptist World Congress in South Africa in 2015. The Congress Committee, which met as part of the BWA Annual Gathering in...
We Teach Children That Incivility is Rewarded
Our country and much of the world has expressed shock and horror at the verbal and physical treatment meted out to a 68-year-old grandmother and bus monitor in Greece, New York. Karen Klein tried to maintain her...
Southern Baptists Continue Membership Decline
The two "big kids on the block" of American denominationalism are making front-page and prime-time news this early summer in ways that crowd out other stories of events and trends in most other groups. Only the Mormons...
Excuse Me, Do You Have the Time the Millennium Starts?
A new millennium began 12 years ago (technically, 11 years ago, for we usually start counting things with one not zero), according to the Common Era calendar. But when will the Millennium begin? The Millennium, with a...
Inclusive Language in Church: Are Women Worth It?
Language is powerful. In the broad sense, language as a communication tool takes many forms: behavior, expression, gesture, tone, words. Language has power to bless or curse, inspire or deflate, heal or wound, clarify...
When Senior Pastors Are in Over Their Heads
In his book, "What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful," Marshall Goldsmith points out that certain skills may enable a person to reach a specific level of...
Baptists Will Address Environment, Religious Freedom, Technology in Chile
When global Baptists gather this week in Santiago, Chile, they will explore relationships between Baptists and Muslims, hear a report from the United Nations conference of sustainable development and celebrate a...
It’s chilly in Chile …
Santiago, Chile could use a small dose of the heat wave blanketing the U.S. these days. The nearly 300 folks attending this week's annual gathering of the Baptist World Alliance had to pack coats, because it's the dead...
Southern Baptists ‘…and their wives’
Here's how the Southern Baptist Convention's recently scolded ethics leader begins a column in praise of the convention's newly elected African-American president: "Several thousand Southern Baptist pastors, church...
Can I cell you a book?
I generally avoid promoting my own books, but I can't help but mention one that has my name on it, because it's not the only name. I'm just the co-writer, the style man, the interviewerer-story teller, the shape-it-up...
“Brave”
Disney and Pixar bring another movie about a princess to the screen. "Brave" is the story of Merida (Kelly Macdonald), the daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). Merida is at the age...
Faith-Filled Divestment of U.S. Businesses in Israel
It's that time of year again, when national denominations gather to be inspired, transact business and take stands on issues of importance. Increasing those "issues of importance" have included the never-ending,...