ORLANDO, Fla. (ABP) — Serious mission leaders have long understood that volunteers shed theological strait jackets when they bend together to meet needs of disaster victims. In the storm-ravaged South, especially Alabama and Joplin, Mo., that truth is being confirmed…
150 years after the Civil War, reminders of that conflict are fresh
One hundred and fifty years after Confederate artillery fired on Fort Sumter, S.C., and the Civil War began, reminders of the conflict that divided a nation remain fresh. Some see them any given Sunday morning when black Christians and white…
OPINION: Being Baptist — An interracial journey
One Sunday in January 1994, our family — Candyce, Stephanie and I — walked across the parking lot of the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., after the morning service. An elderly African-American woman approached us and asked: “Reverend,…
Bluegrass band brings respite to tornado-stricken community
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (ABP) – First Baptist Church of the Williams community of Jacksonville, Ala., has been a beehive of activity since tornadoes destroyed 200 homes in the area April 27. Sunday, May 29, it was time to kick back and relax….
Music conference celebrates hospitality
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — They came because they share a passion for sacred music. They were welcomed into a new worship space around the theme of hospitality. And they left with a renewed sense of calling. Polyphony participants gathered this…
South African Baptist scholar dies
WACO, Texas (ABP) – John Jonsson, an emeritus professor of religion and former director of the African Studies program at Baylor University, died May 26 at his home in South Africa after an extended illness. A native South African, Baptist…
As presidential candidate, Gingrich woos skeptical evangelical voters
WASHINGTON (RNS) — As evangelicals and other social conservatives gather here June 3-4 to take the measure of a number of Republican presidential candidates, Newt Gingrich will be conspicuously absent. Gingrich’s campaign cited scheduling conflicts in not speaking to Ralph…
REVIEW: God at the root of Terrence Malick’s newest film, ‘Tree of Life’
LOS ANGELES (RNS) — Terrence Malick’s new film, Tree of Life, is nearly indescribable. Not because its beauty or virtuosity are beyond words, although it has its moments. Tree of Life, which opened May 27, is iconoclastic, its plot nonlinear,…
After two centuries, a Virginia Baptist district association may disband
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A 220-year-old Baptist district association in Virginia, whose churches nurtured some of Baptists’ most revered early leaders, will disband this fall, if a proposal from its 12-member steering committee is adopted. At its May 15 annual spring…
Gingrich and evangelical voters
WASHINGTON (RNS) — As evangelicals and other social conservatives gather here June 3-4 to take the measure of a number of Republican presidential candidates, Newt Gingrich will be conspicuously absent. Gingrich’s campaign cited scheduling conflicts in not speaking to Ralph…
Grace or nature? A question at the heart of Malick’s new film
LOS ANGELES (RNS) — Terrence Malick’s new film, Tree of Life, is nearly indescribable. Not because its beauty or virtuosity are beyond words, although it has its moments. Tree of Life, which opened May 27, is iconoclastic, its plot nonlinear,…
CBF, Mercer collaborate to offer conference on sexuality in 2012
ATLANTA (ABP) – The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Mercer University are co-sponsors of a “[Baptist] Conference on Sexuality and Covenant” scheduled April 19-21, 2012, at First Baptist Church in Decatur, Ga. Organized by CBF’s Missional Congregations Initiative and Mercer’s Center…