Practicing advocacy in the pulpit can be like walking through a “fiery furnace,” five pastors noted during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Atlanta June 29. Cheryl Moore Adamson of Palmetto Missionary Baptist Church in Conway, S.C.; Jesús Garcia…
Advocacy’s power flows from grassroots movements, Tyler and Henderson tell CBF
The power of advocacy for just causes is grassroots — it grows from the ground up, a pair of nonprofit leaders stressed during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Atlanta June 30. Cassandra Henderson, executive director of the Interfaith…
CBF adopts expanded budget, fills governance vacancies, receives challenges
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship approved a mission and ministry budget increase of almost 5%, elected slates of nominees for vacant governance positions, bestowed awards, and heard challenges and affirmations from key leaders during the CBF General Assembly June 30. Participants…
White Christian nationalism is an ‘unholy alliance’ between fundamentalism and politics, Tisby tells BNG crowd
An event that occurred outside Atlanta more than a century ago presaged the violent, racist God-and-country resurgence of white Christian nationalism that pervades America today, historian and author Jemar Tisby said during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly in Atlanta…
Deliberation provides key to sacred and courageous conversations, Candler’s Corrie stresses
Congregations can conduct conversations on vital issues without fragmenting if they learn how to deliberate together, Elizabeth Corrie told participants in a “Bold Faithfulness” seminar during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly in Atlanta June 28. The focus of the…
Help traumatized people recover from “narrative fracture,” Princeton Seminary’s Wagner urges
Trauma can “fracture” the stories that enable individuals and communities to make sense of life, but preaching, ministry and worship can help trauma victims discover resilience and recover emotionally, Kimberly Wagner told participants at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly…
‘Jesus gene’ guides Together for Hope’s response to America’s vulnerable, Poole tells anniversary celebrants
The “Jesus gene” compels Christians to provide practical help and divine love to vulnerable people, Chuck Poole told participants at the 20th anniversary celebration of Together for Hope June 27, during the first night of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General…
If you bet on how many churches the SBC will kick out, take the ‘under’
Southern Baptists will not excommunicate as many churches with women pastors as you might think. They won’t even get the chance. In fact, if Las Vegas oddsmakers set an over/under bet on how many churches the Southern Baptist Convention will…
Welton Gaddy, Baptist champion of interfaith religious freedom
C. Welton Gaddy, once a rising star among Southern Baptists who left to champion progressive causes and dedicated much of his life to religious liberty for all people, died at his home in Monroe, La., June 7. He was 81….
Why did it take 20 years to learn my most far-reaching life lesson?
How does a moment morph from repeatably mundane to irreversibly transformative? That question has echoed through my mind countless times across more than 46 years — since an unrecorded lecture in an unremarkable classroom on an otherwise unmemorable autumn morning…
Stimpson pours lifetime of skill, compassion into Welcome House refugees
Refugees who resettle on the western edge of North Carolina’s Research Triangle benefit from the same passion and commitment to excellence Delores Stimpson provided Fortune 500 companies throughout her long career as a director of information technology programs. They also…
Southern Baptist Convention ousts its largest church, Saddleback, for having a woman pastor
The Southern Baptist Convention has removed its largest congregation, Saddleback Church of Lake Forest, Calif., for appointing a woman as a teaching pastor. The SBC Executive Committee, which acts on behalf of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination in-between the convention’s…