Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
The DNA of God: Creation
Sermon delivered by Joel Snider, pastor of First Baptist Church in Rome, Ga., on July 19, 2009. Genesis 2: 4-14 Meditation Text: She guessed that behind the conscious evil there was an unconscious blackness....
Is Blaming Men for Inequitable Treatment of Women Good Theology?
Blaming "male interpretations of religious texts" for the lack of women's equal rights is flawed theology, at least within the context of Baptists of the South. Yes, the Southern Baptist Convention did adopt a faith...
Global Baptists Celebrate 400th Anniversary in Amsterdam, Remain Champions for Religious Freedom
When global Baptists gather today in Amsterdam to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the beginnings of the Baptist movement in the back room of a city bakery, they will remember an early advocate for religious liberty...
Your Church Not Growing? Blame the Birth Rate
Summer is in full swing and that means the church has empty pews – and lots of them. Some six million mainline Protestants have gone on summer vacation since 1965 and haven't come back. That's right, six million...
Roger’s ‘dangerous ideas’
Last night I shared with the congregation of Vineville Baptist Church in Macon, Ga., about the significant contributions of early Baptist leader Roger Williams. It was the first in a series of Wednesday evening...
Harvard Prof’s Arrest Illustrates Racism Thrives
Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard University history professor and director of Harvard's W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research, was arrested July 16 on a charge of disorderly conduct. ...
Many of Jesus’ Followers Flee Suffering He Endured
How did a movement that began with a rugged band of first-century Jewish peasants eventually become the largest institutional religion in the world? How did the followers of Jesus move from meeting in homes to building...
Cease Fire: Three Steps to End the Culture Wars
The battle is on and it has been on. For most of us who grew up in an evangelical tradition, it dates back to the evolution-fundamentalist controversy at the turn of the 20th century. Today, many refer to it as "the...
Over the moon
It was 40 years ago this week that two earthlings first set foot on the moon, and every media outlet worth its salt has done some sort of retrospective about it. Most end with the question of where we go from here:...
Attend Immigration Luncheon at New Baptist Covenant Meeting
Has immigration reform gotten lost in the crush of other pressing issues and cultural happenings? In recent weeks, cable TV had an obsessive focus on Michael Jackson's death and funeral. Other headlines and programs...
No Homeless in Your Back Yard? Think Again.
A major stumbling block in addressing homelessness in this country is NIMBY. Not In My Back Yard. "But they are already in your back yard, everywhere, even in the best neighborhoods," said Dennis Beavers, during a...
Cape Coast Castle: Monument to Man’s Cruelty
President Obama's recent tour of Ghana included a well-publicized visit to the Cape Coast Castle, better known as Elmina, the site where thousands – perhaps millions – of African tribal POWs and innocents were led to...
Peer pressure not just for youth
"If everybody's mother let them jump off a cliff...?"Well, something like that is the patented parental response to the adolescent urge to do and be just like one's friends. Peer pressure can be both a serious problem...
Church Membership: 6% Are First-Timers
A recent study by Leadership Network and the Hartford Institute for Religion Research looked at the demographics of those who attend mega-churches, defined as a congregation attended by 2,000 or more each week. The...
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
If you have not seen any of the Harry Potter movies, don't try to jump in on this one. To understand what takes place in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," too much of what happened in the past is needed to be...
Saving the Environment “ A Resolution at a Time
Baptists as a whole have a mixed track record when it comes to the environment. Some Baptist groups, such as the American Baptist Churches-USA as well as some moderate Baptists in the South, have voiced their concern...
Fame
Sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, pastor of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock, A.R., on July 19 2009. Jeremiah 23:1-6; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 They didn’t even have the opportunity to eat, they were so busy with...
Confronting Hypocrisy and the Health Care Debate
The following sermon was written by Wendell Griffen, pastor of New Millennium Church in Little Rock, Ark. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the...
SBC Is More Partisan than Southern Baptist Republican Senator on Sotomayor
What does it say when a Southern Baptist Republican senator leans toward endorsing Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor two days after the Southern Baptist Convention's chief lobbyist opposes her confirmation? ...
How Would Jesus Handle Health Care?
One of the vocations for which Jesus is best known is being a healer. The Gospels narrate stories in which he makes the blind to see, the deaf to hear and the lame to walk. He heals some of dreaded diseases and raises...
Baptists and Muslims: Being Good Neighbors
We no longer need to travel internationally to encounter Muslims. In the United States, Muslims are living in our neighborhoods and working in our cities. Like our ancestors who emigrated from many lands, this growing...