Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
What do you get out of church?
The Barna Group has released a new study on what church attenders say they get out of the experience, and folks who plan worship could profit from giving it a look. Church should be about relating to God, right? The...
It’s 2012, Which Means Another Doomsday May Be upon Us
(RNS) On Dec. 21, 2012, the Mayan calendar reaches the end of its 5,126 epoch. That’s a cause of consternation among some end-times adherents, and amusement among some descendants of the Maya. Fresh from having...
Pope Benedict XVI’s Cardinals: More Roman, Less Catholic
(RNS) For Americans who take note of the pomp and circumstance—and politics—at the Vatican, the big news on Friday (Jan. 6) was that Pope Benedict XVI had included New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, and former...
Immigration Documentary to Be Screened in Nashville, Local Churches
If all one knew about immigration came from cable-TV clips of Republican presidential contenders promising a crackdown on the undocumented, and newspaper articles about court challenges to anti-immigration laws, one...
Faith Leaders Criticize Decision to Legalize Expansion of Online Gambling
A legal opinion released by the Department of Justice legalizes some forms of non-sport, online gambling. The opinion was dated September 2011 but not released until right before Christmas. The legal standard since the...
Remember Why the SBC Left the BWA
Southern Baptist Convention and Baptist World Alliance leaders met Dec. 19, 2011, eight years to the day that an SBC committee recommended that the SBC withdraw membership in and defund the BWA. A BWA press release...
What I’ve learned from blogging
By John Pierce My entry into blogging a couple of years ago was primarily a push from Bruce Gouley, the online editor for Baptists Today. Another friend and colleague, Tony Cartledge, was less reluctant. Soon, however,...
“Complementarianism” is no compliment
I learned from Associated Baptist Press (since I no longer receive unsolicited review copies) that LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention has published a two-volume Bible commentary (for the Old...
In Academia, Islam Remains a Risky Third Rail
(RNS) A recent spate of campus controversies involving professors who made provocative statements about Muslims shows one of two things: a decreasing tolerance for inflammatory speech, or how easy it is for academics...
Boston Cardinal Marks 10 Years Since Abuse Scandal
(RNS) Ten years after the sex abuse scandal erupted in the Archdiocese of Boston, Cardinal Sean O’Malley has written a contrite public letter, faulting the church’s response and insisting that the church can never...
N.C. Man Has a Gentle Madness for Church Fans Collection
WILMINGTON (RNS) William McNeill remembers two things about sitting in the pew at Singletary United Methodist Church in Dublin, N.C. as a boy. He can still hear the choir singing the old gospel hymn “Bringing in the...
How Your Church Can Remain Financially Viable
If there is one recurring theme to the conversations I have regularly with clergy, lay leaders and denominational employees, it is viability. In a myriad of ways, people are asking viability questions about ministry,...
Uncovering the Cracks in the Micro-Credit Industry
I return to Ha-Joon Chang's debunking "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism." In one of his chapters, Chang argues that people in poor countries are generally more entrepreneurial than those in rich...
Mixing Politics and Religion = Weakened Faith
In 381 A.D., Theodosius, emperor of the eastern Roman Empire, declared that all of his subjects would adhere to a belief in the Trinity – God as Father, God as Son, and God as the Holy Spirit. Later that same year, the...
Called to Gift
A sermon delivered by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City Mo., on January 1, 2012. Matthew 2:1-12 Today is New Year's Day, an old year has been ushered out and a new one was welcomed in with...
How to Live With Praise, Purpose, and Power
A sermon delivered by Wendell Griffen, Pastor, New Millennium Church, Pastor, January 1, 2012. Psalm 148 1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! 2 Praise him, all his...
Remebering Why, Affirming Therefore
A sermon delivered by Wendell Griffen, Pastor, New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Ark., on December 31, 2011. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 3For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to...
Let It Be
A sermon delivered by David Hughes, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, Nc., on December 18, 2011. Luke 1:26-38; Romans 18:25-27 Growing up Baptist I had no idea how significant the “Annunciation” was in the...
Meddlesome Messengers
A sermon delivered by David Hughes, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, Nc., on December 11, 2011. Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; John 1:6-8, 19-28 I don’t like people who meddle. And Lord knows, we have plenty of...
The Way Home
A sermon delivered by David Hughes, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, Nc., on December 4, 2011. Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; Isaiah 40:1-11; Mark 1:1-8 Lots of Christmases past still linger in my mind, but none more...
Romney’s Evangelical Problem Starts with Theology
(RNS) The good news for Mitt Romney: he won the Iowa caucuses. The bad news for Romney: evangelicals remain reluctant to support him. Romney bested former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum by a mere eight votes in...