by Robert Parham | Nov 13, 2013 | Opinion
Richmond’s Bon Air Baptist Church will sponsor the premier screening in Virginia of our forthcoming documentary on prisons and faith on Feb. 17, 2014. Watch for more details. But for now, know that we will be screening the short version of the documentary that...
by Mike Smith | Nov 13, 2013 | Opinion
How might we introduce Advent to a congregation that has never observed the season? Based on experience with three such congregations, I offer the following general strategies. 1. Tell the congregation why Advent is important to you. Testimony matters in most of our...
by Rhonda Abbott Blevins | Nov 13, 2013 | Opinion
When you think about the seasons of the church year, what comes to mind? Certainly Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter, and perhaps even Pentecost makes your list. But no one ever talks about a “Season of Thanksgiving.” In fact, Thanksgiving gets one day...
by John D. Pierce | Nov 12, 2013 | Opinion
By John Pierce Last Sunday I enjoyed talking with some church lay leaders about the changing cultural contexts in which congregations minister today. One of my points was that current ministers are often compared unfairly to beloved pastors of another era. While we...
by Molly T. Marshall | Nov 12, 2013 | Opinion
As I write, images of the destruction in the Philippines are streaming around the world. They are incomprehensibly tragic and graphic – bodies thrown up into trees, dwellings washed away, infrastructures devastated. It is hard to fathom how such loss – at least 10,000...
by Zach Dawes Jr | Nov 12, 2013 | Opinion
Advent commences the new year in the liturgical worship tradition, not Jan. 1. Advent, which is Latin for “coming” or “arrival,” is the four-week period leading up to Christmas. It begins in late November or early December and culminates on...
