RICHMOND — Virginia Baptists are providing assistance to victims of the cyclone that devastated parts of Bangladesh in November. More than 3,500 people were killed in the Ganges River delta along the Bay of Bengal. Terry Raines, coordinator for mobile…
News about Virginia Baptists and their ministries for December 6, 2007
STAFF CHANGES • Steven R. Gupton, to First Church, Virginia Beach, as pastor. He had served as pastor of Ivor Church, Ivor. • Joel Jenkins, resigning as pastor of First Church, Charlottesville, to continue active duty service in military chaplaincy….
OFFERINGS: Bandela partners with Indian church starters in ministry
ATLANTA — For five years, Sam Bandela, one of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's global missions field personnel, has been working patiently among hill tribes in the mountainous central region of India. Even as tsunami relief and personal challenges intervened, Bandela…
In Afton, an unexpected sight: First-century Bethlehem recreated
AFTON — The Village of Bethlehem in Afton, Va., is a small replica of the actual City of David, and it comes to life each December when members of a little country church transform into first-century characters. Visitors from all…
Stand and deliver
God chose “the foolishness of preaching” as the preferred instrument for communicating the message of salvation, the Apostle Paul wrote. But when the time arrives to stand and deliver that message, how does a preacher measure whether it's an exercise…
OFFERINGS: Harding brings clean water, love of Christ to Ethiopians
ATLANTA — In Ethiopia, the new rush of fresh, drinkable water brings a rush of joy. “When you strike water and the well starts to work, you should hear the joy,” said David Harding, one of CBF's global missions field…
EDITORIAL: Spiritual leadership is the demand of the day
Each Lord's Day pastors throughout the world stand before their congregations and deliver sermons they believe are messages from the Lord. Speaking from experience, the weight of such weekly work is both exhausting and exhilarating. The sheer effort required in…
OFFERINGS: Taking the gospel to Russia’s struggling Udmurt people
IZHEVSK, Russia (BP) — No father should have to bury a son. But the world can be a sad place — particularly the piece of it called Udmurtia (ood-MER-ti-yah) in the foothills of Russia's Ural Mountains. On a spring day…
Stand and deliver: ‘Knowing the people’ is key to successful preaching
(ABP) — God chose “the foolishness of preaching” as the preferred instrument for communicating the message of salvation, the Apostle Paul wrote. But when the time arrives to stand and deliver that message, how does a preacher measure whether it's…
Lectionary helps some preachers ‘divide word of truth,’ avoid repeats
(ABP) — It's Saturday night. Do you know where your pastor is? A safe guess might be “in a study, frantically developing the next day's sermon.” The pastor's task is to “carefully divide the word of truth,” but many pulpiteers…
Stand and deliver: Preachers urged to avoid pulpit plagiarism
(ABP) — If preachers pass off other people's work as their own, they automatically limit themselves to preaching about only eight commandments. “Thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt not bear false witness” become off-limits. But preachers can avoid plagiarism…
Hillary Clinton garners applause at Warren’s AIDS conference
LAKE FOREST, Calif. (ABP) — Despite controversy over her appearance there, Hillary Clinton has reportedly gotten rave reviews for a speech on combating AIDS she gave Nov. 29 at one of the country's largest evangelical churches. The Democratic New York…