JERUSALEM — When Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat decided to open a municipal parking lot that had been closed on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, his office said he simply was being practical. Extra parking is needed to help ease lines of…
RIGHT OR WRONG? Being transparent in church
Few Baptists seem to practice our old adage, “Tell the truth and trust the people.” For example, too much church business goes on behind closed doors. How can our church balance operating on a need-to-know basis and making the truth…
OUT LOUD
“You don’t know what Theotokos means? Get a book and read about it. You have a hard time standing for two hours? Do some sit-ups and get yourself into worship shape. It is the Lord our God we worship here,…
SECOND OPINION: A pan-Baptist council — why not?
In 1895, Religious Herald editor Robert H. Pitt was among the first to urge Baptists to unite in a world organization. He repeated the call in 1900, five years before the Baptist World Alliance was organized in London. Both editorials…
EDITORIAL: Aunt Ida joins the information age
Dear Jimmy, Why bless me, you’ll never believe what your ol’ uncle has gone and done now. We were sittin’ in front of the TV watchin’ the Braves game when one of those computers came on the commercial. Well, I…
HERITAGE: The roar of lions
By any measure, they are old lions. Henry Langford turned 90 earlier this year. Jim Fox and Elmer West are both 86 and counting. But they can still roar. As young lions they challenged the prevailing social order, risking their…
Faith that sings: Hymns make theology portable
“If you know what hymns a congregation is most addicted to, you will be able to infer what, in Christianity, means most to that church.” When the late hymnist Erik Routley wrote that in 1982, worship wars in the United…
‘Big Bucket Brigade’ ministers to Africans
RICHMOND — When you think of a “bucket brigade,” you likely picture buckets filled with water and a line of people. On July 12 there was a “Big Bucket Brigade” at Hatcher Memorial Baptist Church in Richmond, but the 23…
Virginia Baptists’ John Upton nominated as BWA president
EDE, Netherlands — John Upton, executive director of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, has been nominated as president of the Baptist World Alliance. If elected at the BWA’s world congress in 2010, Upton will begin a five-year term to…
Baptists on mission in the 49th state
MECHANICSVILLE — Bodenburg Butte Baptist Church is located in Palmer, Alaska, a town approximately 45 miles from Anchorage and 4,700 miles from Virginia. Last month a 14-member mission team led by Don Carter, a member of Hillcrest Baptist Church in…
‘Big Bucket Brigade’ ministers to Africans
RICHMOND — When you think of a “bucket brigade,” you likely picture buckets filled with water and a line of people. On July 12 there was a “Big Bucket Brigade” at Hatcher Memorial Baptist Church in Richmond, but the 23…
Bluefield College cottages renovated
BLUEFIELD — More than 100 members of Baptist churches from across Virginia and Tennessee spent part of their summer on the campus of Bluefield College. The Baptist missionaries with skills from carpentry to cooking worked five weeks in May and…