Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Four Common Misconceptions about Being a Christian Witness
Kirk Cameron is probably most famously known as Mike, the teenage son on "Growing Pains," a popular sitcom of the mid-'80s. Cameron is better known today, however, for his zealous Christian ideas and his association...
Who is this Family?
Sermon delivered by Joel Snider, pastor of First Baptist Church in Rome, Ga., on June 21, 2009. Mark 3: 31-34. Meditation Text: We will need to remember that we did not create ourselves, that we owe what we are...
Would it make you proud?
The recent LG U.S. National Texting Championship in New York required contestants to send a text in 60 seconds while running on a treadmill, translate text-message abbreviations and text the alphabet while...
SBC Executive Committee Recommends Disfellowshipping Church
The executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention voted unanimously June 22 to recommend ending its more than 125-year relationship with Broadway Baptist Church in Forth Worth, Texas. The messengers at the SBC...
Seeking the Common Good Doesn’t Require Doctrinal Agreement about God
No sooner had the Indianapolis Star broken the story over the weekend about mega-church pastor Rick Warren speaking at the upcoming annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America than conservative Christian...
Young Leaders Staying Home From SBC’s Annual Meeting
In an article in the Louisville Courier-Journal, religion writer Peter Smith writes that when the Southern Baptist Convention meets in Louisville today and tomorrow (June 23-24), most convention leaders expect one...
Glad Obama’s President? Thank Conservative Talking Heads
If some of America's most well-known conservative talk show hosts are not on the payroll of the Democratic National Committee, I believe they should be. Why would I aver such? As bizarre as it may sound, I believe they...
Gracious, Challenging Professors Embody Seminary’s Legacy
In August 1979, the day that my wife, Debra, graduated from Mercer University in Georgia, we moved to Louisville, Ky., for me to begin seminary education at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. We would spend the...
Storms, Fear and Faith
This sermon was delivered by Wendell Griffen, pastor of the New Millennium Church in Little Rock, Ark., on June 21, 2009. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: "Why are you such cowards? Don't you have any faith at all?...
Fighting our Fears
Sermon delivered by Keith Herron, pastor of Holmeswood Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo., on June 21, 2009. I Samuel 17 (1a, 4-11, 19-23) 32-49 One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm, a mother was tucking...
Are You Keeping Your Head Above Water?
Sermon delivered by Bob Browning, pastor of Smoke Rise Baptist Church in Stone Mountain, G.A., on June 21 2009. Mark 4: 35-41. I wonder how long they fought that storm before they awakened Jesus. I also...
If Apple was in charge …
Yesterday I braved the iPhone-crazy crowds in Raleigh's Apple Store to pick up my three-year-old MacBook, which I'd taken in for repairs less than a week before my "Apple Care" extended warranty ran out.I'd made a...
Baptizing Children Raised in Same-Sex Households
When Newsweek's religion editor Lisa Miller called about where Baptists stand on baptizing children raised in same-sex households, I finally had an opportunity to say that this is one issue where Baptists — all...
South Carolina Minister Nominated to Serve as CBF Moderator-Elect
Christy McMillin-Goodwin, associate minister for education and missions at Oakland Baptist Church in Rock Hill, S.C., has been nominated as moderator-elect for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. A past moderator of...
Rabbi Advocates Killing Civilians, Destroying Holy Sites in War
"How should Jews treat their Arab neighbors?" That was the question posed in the Ask the Rabbis section in the May/June issue of Moment Magazine. Beloved Chabad Rabbi Manis Friedman gave this answer: "I don't...
The Fate of Emptiness
Sermon delivered by Dr. Joel Snider, pastor of First Baptist Church in Rome, Ga., on June 7, 2009. Luke 11: 24-26. Meditation Text: In any city, Sunday is the saddest day of the week…when the tempo of the working week...
Baptists and children
I've been stewing for the past week over the proposed idea that Baptists should combat falling baptism numbers, at least in part, by having more children. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Al Mohler has...
Baptist Leaders Endorse ‘American Clean Energy and Security Act’
More than 140 Baptist leaders from across the country signed a Baptist Center for Ethics (BCE) letter to lawmakers endorsing the "American Clean Energy and Security Act," a bill in the House of Representatives approved...
Would a Baptist Church by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet?
Four years ago our church went through a visioning process that included among other things a lengthy discussion about who we are. The first issue put on the table was whether or not we should keep the word "Baptist"...
Praying for Iran’s Citizens and Their Pursuit of Freedom
I am praying for the people of Iran. Not because I consider them my enemies and am commanded to do so by my Lord. Nor because I believe I am better than they are and feel motivated by a condescending altruism. I am...
Obama’s Visit to Muslim Countries Sows Seeds for Peace
I was recently part of an unprecedented coalition of U.S. religious leaders who wrote to President Obama on the occasion of his visit to predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East. We urged strong diplomatic...