By Ken Camp Some Texas Baptist congregations rang in the New Year by posting signs prohibiting openly carried handguns inside their church buildings — or updating signs already banning concealed handguns. Effective Jan. 1, Texans with firearms licenses are allowed…
Baptist missionaries hope song may soften hearts toward Syrian refugees
By Ken Camp After his wife and son witnessed the plight of Syrian refugees firsthand during a mission trip to the Middle East, Rick Brown wrote the words and music to For the Refugee both as a petition to God…
Transforming systems, shaping policies
By Ken Camp As a child, the daydreams of Kathryn Freeman, future attorney and public policy director for Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission, never centered on courtroom drama or legislative power plays. “I wanted to be like Oprah,” Freeman acknowledges….
Divinity school deans: Changing theological education easier said than done
By Ken Camp and Jeff Brumley Theological education should help “the whole people of God” move toward maturity as the body of Christ — and that means moving beyond traditional ways of providing that learning, Linda Cannell said during B.H. Carroll…
New officers for Baptist group in Texas reflects state’s diversity
By Ken Camp The Baptist General Convention of Texas elected by acclamation the president of a Hispanic school, a first-generation Ethiopian immigrant pastor and the pastor of a historic county-seat First Baptist Church as top officers during its annual meeting…
Disaster recovery remains a busy ministry for some Baptists
By Ken Camp Faith-based disaster relief agencies have enjoyed relative calm around the nation. But that’s not true everywhere — and certainly not in Texas. Faith-based groups, including Texas Baptists and Texas Baptist Men, are busy helping residents recover from recent…
Intrigued by its history, developer spares abandoned Dallas church from demolition
By Ken Camp A funny thing happened after real estate developer David Spence bought an abandoned Dallas church building, intending to demolish it and create a parking lot to serve nearby storefront property he was renovating. “I fell in love…
Creativity, patience needed to minister overseas
By Ken Camp and Jeff Brumley A Korean-American Baptist minister who has traveled to North Korea more than two dozen times in the last 19 years, delivering tons of corn and wheat noodles to schools, orphanages and hospitals, was denied…
Moving beyond hope to confidence in fight against hunger
By Ken Camp In spite of some discouraging trends, the problem of hunger in the United States — particularly among children — can be solved, the leader of the national “No Kid Hungry” movement told participants at the Together at the…