Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
‘No Country for Old Men’
"No Country for Old Men" addresses an age-old problem: Why is it hard to do the right thing? A character from a forgotten movie once said: "Funny, ain't it, how it comes around. Right way's the hardest, wrong way's the...
New Baptist Covenant Celebration was Political, but not Partisan
Fifteen thousand pastors and laypersons representing churches across the land met last week in Atlanta under the banner of the New Baptist Covenant to offer a progressive voice for Baptists. All Baptists in North...
Living With Our Fallibility
It has been a pesky problem from the very beginning. Adam, who walked with God in the cool of the garden, could not follow one simple proscription. Abraham, called by God to be the progenitor of a great nation, lied...
A word well spoken
Allow me one last thought from the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant, held in Atlanta Jan. 30-Feb. 1. It was, I think, the finest Baptist meeting I've ever attended in America. The spirit of hopefulness, the desire...
Clinton Details 1993 Meeting with President of Southern Baptist Convention
If President Bill Clinton ever had a prayer with the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention, it was right after a meeting on Sept. 16, 1993, with then-SBC president Ed Young. Though he was a member of a Southern...
Panelists Urge New Covenant Baptists to Fight Institutional Racism
The church's struggle against racism is no longer primarily about skin color, but institutions that bestow privilege on some and penalties on others, an activist, denominational leader and scholar said in a...
Clinton Details 1993 Meeting with President of Southern Baptist Convention
If President Bill Clinton ever had a prayer with the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention, it was right after a meeting on Sept. 16, 1993, with then-SBC president Ed Young. Though he was a member of a Southern...
Panelists Urge New Covenant Baptists to Fight Institutional Racism
The church's struggle against racism is no longer primarily about skin color, but institutions that bestow privilege on some and penalties on others, an activist, denominational leader and scholar said in a...
Gore Delivers Most Important Baptist Address in 30 Years
Former Vice President Al Gore delivered the most energetic, substantive and potentially transformative speech made by a Baptist to a Baptist audience in 30 years. From my first Southern Baptist Convention in June 1978...
Ditching the notes
I won't try to add to John Pierce's accurate analysis of former president Bill Clinton's speech on Friday night of the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant. I was delighted that Clinton remained faithfully...
After the Celebration: Now what?
In the closing address of the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant last night, former President Bill Clinton was gracious, biblically-astute, politically nonpartisan, insightful, personal — and a bit off topic. He...
Preaching on fast-forward
My students think I talk fast – or they did, until some of them heard Charles G. Adams preach. Adams, pastor of Hartford Baptist Church in Detroit, read most of his alluringly alliterated sermon, but read it so rapidly...
Campbell folk enjoy celebration
For friends of Campbell University, I offer these photos of students and others enjoying the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant. The group shot (taken by Steve DeVane) includes students, alumni, faculty and staff --...
No disappointments, says Carter
Former president Jimmy Carter said there have been many successes and he’s had no disappointments during the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant meeting, held Jan. 30-Feb. 1 in Atlanta.“We’ve been excited, pleased,...
Shurden on significance
What is the historical significance of the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant, an unprecedented gathering of diverse Baptists in America? No one is better equipped to handle that question than Buddy Shurden, a...
Randall Lolley honored in Atlanta
Randall Lolley, former president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, was honored Feb. 1 at a breakfast co-sponsored by the Mainstream Baptist Network, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina, and the...
Grisham one of us
Many of us, who identify ourselves as moderate Baptists of Southern Baptist heritage, felt a kinship with novelist John Grisham who spoke last night at the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant.Unlike many politicians...
The face of love is Jesus
“We never see Jesus until we see him in every face,” said Julie Pennington-Russell, who preached during the Thursday evening session of the New Baptist Covenant celebration.Pennington-Russell, pastor of First Baptist...
Workshop Challenges New Covenant Baptists to Seek Peace
Humans are caught "in an inextricable network of mutuality" that requires nations to overcome differences to work together for peace, Baptist ethicist Paul Dekar said Thursday at a special-interest session on...
Gore Urges New Covenant Baptists to Take Up Mantle of Creation Care
Former Vice President Al Gore challenged 2,500 fellow Baptists at a Thursday luncheon with prophetic zeal to take up the mantle of reversing global warming. Speaking to a luncheon crowd at this week's New Baptist...
Author John Grisham Offers Tips to Restore Baptists’ Good Name
Why are Baptists so often viewed as narrow, intolerant, politically naïve and prone to internal warfare? "The reason is because for so long so many Baptists have worked so hard to exclude so many," author John Grisham...