Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
What Baptists Believe
Sermon delivered by David Hughes, pastor of First Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., on October 25 2009. Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; Joshua 24:14-15; 1 Peter 2:4-5; Matthew 22:21 I remember as a small child...
The Jesus Effect
This sermon was delivered by Wendell Griffen, pastor of the New Millennium Church in Little Rock, Ark., on November 1, 2009. Acts 3: 1-10 As Peter and John were entering the Jerusalem temple for prayer, they...
Making Hope Visable
Sermon delivered by Bob Browning, pastor of Smoke Rise Baptist Church in Stone Mountain, G.A., on November 1 2009. Revelation 21: 1-6 When you were going through a tough time, whose words encouraged you? Whose presence...
Showing your age … in public
One generational shift seems to be less secrecy about age. Older adults seem more comfortable today beginning a sentence with: "Now that I'm 80..."An early lesson for most of us was the impropriety of asking an adult's...
Voodoo Religion: Killing Albinos and Prosperity Preachers
When I was a young girl, I had an albino friend. Annie's hair was as light and wispy as cotton candy. Her eyes as pink as Valentine Sweet-Tarts. At church, whenever we sang that song about Jesus washing me whiter than...
Babi Yar: 1941 Slaughter Near Kiev Mustn’t Be Forgotten
On Sept. 29-30, 1941, the Germans with the help of Ukrainian collaborators developed a plan to eliminate the Jewish population of Kiev. Following the invasion of Kiev, 33,771 Jewish residents were rounded up at the old...
A Perfect Fit: Aligning Justice, Peace and Creation
The year 1990 is significant in the emergence of a Christian response to the environmental crisis. It was the year when the important World Convocation on Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation issued the Seoul...
Hope is my oxygen
With our son visiting a friend, Jan and I boycotted the Hallowe'en candy scene and drove down to Elizabethtown for a concert where local folk had arranged a youth event featuring contemporary Christian groups Chynna...
NBC President Offers Moral Vision
Baptist pastor Julius Scruggs had to preach wearing an eye patch after taking a blow during a stand-in to integrate a Nashville movie theater in the early 1960s. But he didn't lose his moral vision. And two lawsuits...
If Women Ruled: Great Examples Always Have Exception
I've had reason over the last couple of weeks to ponder the question: What if women ruled the world? It all began with the film Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which tells the inspiring story of the women of Liberia who...
Baptist Editor Sees Civility in Climate Change Letter to British PM
The letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown featured on the front page of The Baptist Times is significant not just because it is the first of its kind from BMS World Mission, but for two other reasons. First, its tone....
Enough drama, thank you
When tension builds, I build something. Lowe's and Home Depot have long been my trusted therapists.Fences that keep nothing in or out, and a rarely used arbor, tree house and picnic area dot the wooded back lot. It's...
No joy in Uzbekistan
Some American Christians claim government oppression because they are no allowed to use public schools or courthouses as means to propagate their particular understanding of faith. I occasionally get Facebook...
The Dream Continues: More Work Needed to End Racism
In "Parting the Waters," the Pulitzer-Prize winning story of the early years of the civil rights movement, Taylor Branch describes some of the differences between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s goals and those of the...
BMS to Gordon Brown: Remember Poor at Climate Forum
BMS World Mission has taken the unprecedented step of writing directly to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown ahead of December's crucial climate conference in Copenhagen. BMS, a Christian mission organization based in...
Raising a Stink: Resurrecting Democracy from Death
When Jesus threatens to open up the tomb where his beloved friend, Lazarus, had been placed, the dead man's sister, Martha, objects. She had pleaded for Jesus to come to their home in Bethany while brother Lazarus...
Working for a cause
It seems that everybody has a cause — and many are held with great passion. That's especially true in our nation's capital where lobbyists take their causes to lawmakers.While sloshing down rainy D.C. streets and...
What’s the Big Deal about Being Baptist?
Sermon delivered by David Hughes, pastor of First Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., on October 18 2009. 1 Corinthians 9:19; Galatians 1:1, 13 Billy died and went to heaven. St. Peter offered to show him around. ...
In Praise of Habits
Sermon delivered by Joel Snider, pastor of First Baptist Church in Rome, Ga., on October 25, 2009. Deuteronomy 11: 18-21 Meditation Text A culture that neglects to cultivate good habits will soon...
Conservative Bible Project Is about Using the Bible for Conservative Politics
A man—without any theological training, without any expertise in the original languages of the Bible, without any formal education in the history of the church—thinks he knows what the Bible ought to say and is...
Living the Dream: Finding Purpose and Mission in Life
While perusing a vacation and tourism magazine as I waited at the doctor's office for my name to be called, I couldn't help but notice the large number of ads for resort and retirement communities inviting prospective...