DALLAS (ABP) — With the decline in church-based cemeteries, many churches became disconnected from death in the last century — but some congregations are seeking to correct that problem. Pastor George Mason (center) leads the dedication service for the columbarium…
‘PandaMonium’ VBS theme draws complaints because of word’s genesis
LOVELAND, Colo. (ABP) — An interdenominational Christian publisher has decided to change the title of its 2011 Vacation Bible School curriculum from "PandaMonium" after customer complaints that the word it plays upon literally refers to hell. Group Publishing officials announced…
From the Eastern Shore to Cumberland Gap
STAFF CHANGES • Brent Kimlick, to Franklin Church, Franklin, as pastor, effective in September. • Clarke Hawkins, to Hillcrest Church, Mechanicsville, as pastor. • Lee Cooper, to Hunting Creek Church, Nathalie, as pastor. • Tom Stocks, to Buena Vista Church,…
James River churches collaborate to feed the hungry
Volunteers from James River Baptist Association package meals to be shipped to the Ivory Coast to feed hungry children. DILLWYN, Va. — James River Baptist Association recently sponsored a Stop Hunger Now campaign to feed hungry people around the world….
Virginia re-enactor brings gospel to former Civil War battlefields
GETTYSBURG, Pa. (RNS) — From his Old Testament beard down to his scuffed boots and battered Bible, Alan Farley looks the perfect picture of a Civil War chaplain. On a dusty field five miles from where the Battle of Gettysburg…
Chesapeake woman secures new sense of dignity through ministry
CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Dianne Seymore surveyed her backyard turned construction site as a World Changers crew made up of high school students and adults tackled a stack of lumber that would soon become a handicap ramp. The 42-year-old resident said…
World Changers makes dreams come true for Norfolk woman
NORFOLK, Va. — Sharon Lockyer enjoys the simple pleasures of life. An ideal day for her and her 13-year-old dog, Cookie, includes tending to her flowers, listening to the wind chimes that hang near the back of her house and…
James River churches collaborate to feed the hungry
Volunteers from James River Baptist Association package meals to be shipped to the Ivory Coast to feed hungry children. DILLWYN, Va. — James River Baptist Association recently sponsored a Stop Hunger Now campaign to feed hungry people around the world….
HERITAGE: At the ‘Free Church’
The people came from Middleburg and the surrounding countryside of Loudon and Fauquier counties. They came on a beastly hot Sunday in June and they filled the old “Free Church” building now occupied by the Middleburg Baptist Church. They sang…
VITAL SIGNS: Clergy and grief
A friend and I were talking a few weeks ago and she made the following statement: One of the hardest parts of long-term ministry is burying your friends. I buried a dear friend on Monday. It was all I could…
OUT LOUD
“If the new conservative coalition is going to be a governing coalition, it’s going to have to have a significant number of Hispanics in it. That’s dictated by demographics, and you don’t get large numbers of Hispanics to support you…
EDITORIAL: A congress with a 100 percent approval rating
The Baptist World Alliance World Congress will be meeting July 28 to August 1 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and, Lord willing, Connie and I are going. The Religious Herald and the BWA go way back. In an 1895 editorial, Robert Healy…