By Jeff Brumley Before ISIS and before Ebola, there was “the surge” – the seemingly unending wave of undocumented immigrants, most of them minors, rushing the southwestern U.S. border during the spring and summer of 2014. Images of overwhelmed government…
Baptist church strives to help Afghan Muslim find welcome, work
By Jeff Brumley A Baptist congregation in Oklahoma has taken in an Muslim man who fled Afghanistan to escape Taliban retribution for interpreting for American forces. The folks at NorthHaven Church in Norman say their acceptance of the 31-year-old interpreter…
No magic bullet for church survival, Rick Warren and other Baptists say
By Jeff Brumley For years now, some agencies and experts who coach church planters and struggling congregations have tried to steer over-eager or desperate clients away from the quick fix of sizzling worship services or other gimmicks to draw big…
2 seminaries with Baptist ties join others adding science curricula
By Jeff Brumley As high-profile, science-versus-faith debates rage across the nation, a handful of American seminaries, including two with Baptist ties, are pursuing the notion that reason and religion are compatible and even complementary. Andover Newton Theological School and Wake…
For West pastor and family, new home means recovery
By Jeff Brumley It’s much quieter these days in West, the tiny Texas town partially flattened by a deadly fertilizer plant explosion in April 2013. Gone are the convoys of semis and church trailers hauling debris and construction supplies, lawn…
Baptists weigh role (if any) of apologetics in postmodern culture
By Jeff Brumley As many as 2,000 evangelicals are expected to attend a conference on apologetics this weekend in Charlotte, N.C., where the theme will be “defending a never changing faith in an ever changing world.” Topics at the Southern…
Self-centered prayers no surprise to American pastors
By Jeff Brumley A new poll has revealed something religious leaders have known for years: Americans are pretty self-centered when they pray. And even when not praying for themselves, they are praying for family, friends and favorite teams — which, pastors…
Faith community challenged to put a face on poverty, hunger
By Ken Camp and Jeff Brumley A politician’s challenge that the faith community put a human face on poverty can happen only if Christians build relationships with the poor and hungry, according to a Baptist minister who lives and works…
Name changes challenge churches on Baptist identity
By Jeff Brumley Over the weekend, Virginia Heights Baptist Church in Roanoke, Va., plunged headlong into a continuing, decades-long trend in American Christianity by dropping the denominational reference from its name. So when Nelson Harris showed up for work Monday…