Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
The Real Jesus Isn’t the Popular One
I have three teenagers. One is about to begin his university studies at the college where I am currently employed. The other two are still in high school. Having high school and college-age kids means that our mailbox...
Does Court Ruling Mean No End to Gun Violence?
Slightly more than half the members of the U.S. Supreme Court believe that the Second Amendment right to own a firearm in this country is inviolable. They have now made that clear in their 5-4 decision on McDonald v....
Can We Talk?
Only with great difficulty, at least with regard to touchy subjects such as homosexuality. On June 25, during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s (CBF) General Assembly in Charlotte, I was one of more than 300 people...
Baptist Attacks Fail on Candidate’s Religion
Nikki Haley easily captured the Republican nomination for South Carolina governor on June 22 after facing weeks of personal attacks, including questions about her conversion to Christianity. Several Baptists in the...
Five Lessons Learned From Gulf Oil Catastrophe
Some of the most valuable lessons in life are learned during seasons of hardship, suffering or adversity. Wisdom is often forged from mistakes, mishaps and miscalculations. John Maxwell reminds us that "A man must be...
Mural’s Ethnic Diversity Draws Politician’s Ire
Here is a word of advice: Never begin a sentence with the phrase, "I am not a racist individual, but …" My years of experience have taught me that whenever someone needs to begin a comment by declaring they are not...
Silent, but dearly
Each year during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship annual assembly, a silent auction is held to benefit artists and ministries in various parts of the world. Tina Bailey, one of CBF's global missions field personnel...
I Will Not Leave You
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on June 27, 2010. A Lord’s Supper Meditation 2 Kings 2:1-14; Luke 9:51-62 The author of our...
God Stories: A Formula for Failure
A sermon delivered by Howard Batson, Pastor of First Baptist Church, Amarillo, Tx., on June 20, 2010. Genesis 11:1-9 There wasn’t any argument about it before 1998. No controversy whatsoever. Everyone knew that...
God’s Way and Ours
A sermon delivered by Joel Snider, Pastor of First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga., on June 20, 2010. Isaiah 55:1-3, 8-13 Morning Prayer: Our Father who art in heaven, we thank you that this is one of the ways that you...
Will Church Budgets Reflect Economic Reality?
The Great Recession and the Exceedingly Long Recovery will accelerate cultural trends that are shaping church life in America – and may cripple local congregations. As the Exceedingly Long Recovery drags on,...
I alone am left ¦
A sermon delivered by Wendell Griffen, Pastor of New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Ark., on June 20, 2010. 1 Kings 19: 1-19 When I studied Old Testament survey my seminary professor told our class that the Old...
Can We End Our Dependence on Fossil Fuels?
On the last night of my Panama City Beach, Fla., vacation, I sat on the balcony of our borrowed sixth-floor condominium watching the sun set on my time of rest – and perhaps on a way of life that is as American as...
Making Big Strides in Baptist-Muslim Relationships
Two simple things: a handshake and a well-worn work hat. They're each down-to-earth basics that represented progress toward improving relations between Christians and Muslims in two North Carolina communities. At the...
Preachers, and pounds
The spring 2010 issue of Duke Divinity School's Divinity Magazine contains an interesting report about clergy health (p. 4). Research from a United Methodist Church (UMC) Clergy Health Initiative suggests that UMC...
Anti-Immigration Forces Take Page from Pharaoh’s Playbook
Anti-immigration forces have taken a page out of the Bible in their political power play: Punish the babies. That's right: Make infants of undocumented aliens in the United States cannon fodder in the war over...
As Deficits Grow, Will We Sacrifice Those in Need?
Freedom, as St. Paul reminds us, has its temptations – serious ones, in fact. Like the temptation to bite, devour and consume one another found in Galatians 5:15. That's pretty much where we are in the United States,...
Building Bridges to Strengthen Christian-Muslim Relations
Three individuals described how they built relational bridges over the cultural minefield of Christian-Muslim tensions. They told their stories at the annual EthicsDaily.com luncheon during the Cooperative Baptist...
British Baptists Receive Honor from Queen
Baptist Christians in Great Britain were recognized recently in the Queen's Birthday Honors list. Sri Lanka-born Rev. Fred George, former president of the Baptist Union of Great Britain who ministered at East Barnet...
Same song, different meeting
"We need more money and more young people."This week I've met with a church staff, some of my own directors, the Whitsitt Baptist Heritage Society board and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Coordinating Council. I...
Passion, anyone?
"Passionate moderate" may sound like an oxymoron, but a call to greater passion has been a recurring theme at this year's General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. When the group coalesced as an...