“Sometimes on Sunday mornings, the elderly ladies as they’re coming through the line at the end of the service, they’ll say, ‘Hey, look at my shoes today.’ Sometimes that’s the entry point into a much deeper level of conversation. Sometimes…
VITAL SIGNS: Which parking spot for you?
Among the critical questions every minister and staff needs to ask as we begin a new year is this one: Which parking spot will you choose? Clearly, this question needs to be put in its proper context. My father was…
HERITAGE: Faithful teacher in a constant church
Ruth Marsh Dillingham is one of those rare individuals whom the rest of us identify as “a born teacher.” As the oldest in a home of nine children, she likely did lots of practical teaching with her siblings. At about…
EDITORIAL: Frappuccino Fellowships
Some Christians suffer actual persecution. Most Americans welcomed the news last year that an “Arab Spring” was sweeping through the Middle East. The governments of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt were overthrown. Governmental changes, some of them major, were affected in…
OPINION: A secret confession
Confession: I don’t “get” a lot of visual art. This is a secret confession, however, so please don’t tell the members of our church or the arts center that is our ministry to the community. I don’t get it for…
Two columnists join Religious Herald’s ranks
RICHMOND, Va. — Two new regular columnists were added at the beginning of 2012 to the Religious Herald’s community of opinion writers. Gallimore Smith Alex Gallimore is associate pastor for youth at Piney Grove Baptist Church in Mount Airy, N.C.,…
Middle East Christians keep wary eye on ‘Spring’
CAIRO (RNS) — From her home, Samia Ramsis holds a key chain bearing the face of the Virgin Mary as visitors outside come to look upon the spot where Egypt’s Coptic Christians believe Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus found…
Gaza Baptist Church ‘functioning’ but ‘restricted’
SANTA ANA, Calif. (ABP) — The last remaining evangelical church in Gaza is functioning but in danger of dying, famed Bible smuggler Brother Andrew said after a recent visit to Gaza Baptist Church. “Christians in the west are surprised to…
At 200, missionary movement ponders the future
SALEM, Mass. (RNS) — When America’s first ordained missionaries sailed to India 200 years ago, they kicked off a movement to spread the faith and created America’s most potent export: Christianity. That’s the message that will reverberate across nine Judson…
Missionaries heading from East to West
Western Christians often think in terms of West-to-East movement when missionaries are sent to other countries. But more and more frequently, evangelicals are coming from the East to evangelize the West. According to Dale Irwin of New York Theological Seminary…
Baptist agencies don’t recruit nationals for U.S.service
RICHMOND, Va. — Baptist missionary-sending agencies currently do not actively seek missionaries from other countries to minister to unreached or least-reached people groups in the United States, nor or they likely to do so. When the Southern Baptist Convention authorized…
HeraldBeat
Transitions ON THE MOVE Greg Webber, serving as pastor of Bowling Green (Va.) Baptist Church. [Correction from last issue]. Dennis Foust, to St. John’s Baptist Church, Charlotte, N.C., as senior minister. Kevin Moore, to First Baptist Church, Spring Hope, N.C.,…