By Jeff Brumley Since her nomination as executive coordinator in January, Suzii Paynter has been traveling at a breathless pace helping guide the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship into a new organizational and missional era. The pace only increased with her election…
CBF ends Haiti disaster response
By Jeff Brumley The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has gotten out of the disaster-response business in Haiti, but churches planning long- or short-term mission trips there needn’t be worried, a Fellowship official said today. “Churches can still engage” in outreach with…
NABF retools disaster-relief network
By Jeff Brumley The stream of volunteers coming through La Place, La., these days ebbs and flows, says Reid Doster, coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Louisiana. A large group of Stetson University students is currently rehabbing some of…
Rising stress boosts clergy depression
By Jeff Brumley Bryan Hatcher was a Baptist pastor once, so he gets it when ministers buckle under the strain of long work weeks, budget pressures and that feeling of constantly being in a fish bowl. And because he has…
GW, Rick Perry to eulogize Cliburn
By Jeff Brumley Former President George W. Bush and Texas Gov. Rick Perry are among those scheduled to speak at the funeral of Van Cliburn Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas. A Russian cellist will also speak at the 3 p.m….
Friends say faith came first for Cliburn
By Jeff Brumley News reports of Van Cliburn’s Feb. 27 death in Fort Worth, Texas, extolled the internationally acclaimed pianist as one of history’s greatest classical musicians. Friends at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort, Worth, Texas, however, remember him as…
Aging pushes churches to fiscal brink
By Jeff Brumley Things were looking bleak for Orange Grove Baptist Church and its aging membership when Greg Shoemaker arrived as its pastor about a year ago. Located just north of Pascagoula, Miss., the congregation and community around it had…
Church sold as members go missional
By Jeff Brumley They tried hiring a consultant, new worship styles, luring nonprofits as renters and seeking other churches for mergers. But each approach fell through for the roughly 50 aging members of Scott Boulevard Baptist Church in Decatur, Ga. The congregation’s next step…
Baptists mark Ash Wednesday
By Jeff Brumley Baptists are increasingly observing Lent this year if Facebook is any indication, with news feeds filled with announcements of morning, afternoon and evening Ash Wednesday services today. Among the first were the folks at Park Avenue Baptist…