By Jeff Brumley Being the sole pastor of small church isn’t for the faint of heart, Baptist ministers say. Sermon preparation, visiting the sick and balancing the budget can be even more nerve-racking when being performed by a minister serving…
Gay Baptist minister followed long path to marriage equality
By Bob Allen A Baptist minister and his same-sex partner jailed for trespassing two years ago after refusing to leave a county clerk’s office after being denied a marriage license returned to the scene of the crime Monday afternoon armed…
Baptist groups react to gay marriage ruling
By Bob Allen Amid both praise and condemnation for last week’s Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage, leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship staked out a position of neutrality on a topic deemed best left up to the local church….
Finding an antidote to toxic churches and toxic leadership
By Brian Kaylor In Greek mythology, the mighty warrior Hercules created poisonous arrows after slaying the many-headed Hydra. The word for these deadly arrows — toxikon — eventually gave life to the modern English word “toxic.” Author and leadership coach Bob Dale…
State Supreme Court voids school voucher plan
By Bob Allen The Colorado Supreme Court struck down a school voucher program June 29, saying it violates the state constitution’s ban on using public money to fund religious schools. Overturning a lower-court decision, the Supreme Court said the Douglas…
Citing confidentiality breaches, American Baptists suspend executive search
By Bob Allen The search for the next general secretary of American Baptist Churches USA is on hold, due to “breaches of confidentiality” in the search process, the denomination’s president announced June 28 at the denomination’s biennial mission summit in…
Maintain legacy of racism busting, American Baptists told
By Bob Allen As the nation’s most racially diverse Protestant denomination, American Baptists must take the lead in eradicating racism and violence such as the June 17 hate crime that took nine lives at a historic African-American church in Charleston,…
Supreme Court legalizes gay marriage in all 50 states
By Bob Allen The U.S. Supreme Court ruled by a thin margin June 26 that the Constitution allows religious objection to same-sex marriage but does not permit the government to deny marriage benefits to gay couples that are available to…
Black, white pastors unite in ‘war’ on fear, racism
By Bob Allen A century-and-a-half after the United States fought a civil war over slavery, two black and two white Baptist pastors in Kentucky say it is time for another war against “fear and racism.” “This war will not employ…
50 years on, Baptist leaders say voting rights are jeopardized
By Robert Dilday Leaders of the Progressive National Baptist Convention Inc. gathered on Capitol Hill June 25 to advocate for stronger voting rights protection, urging legislators to adopt two bills currently winding their way through Congress. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary…
Chaplain: Military trains you to see ministry as God’s work, not yours
By Jeff Brumley Imagine spending three or four years in a place, building new ministries or reviving existing ones, only to be replaced by someone else and sent somewhere else to do it all over again. It’s a feeling that…
Jeff Haggray to lead American Baptist mission agency
By Bob Allen The former District of Columbia Baptist Convention executive minister and former pastor of Washington’s First Baptist Church has been named executive director of American Baptist Home Mission Societies. According to American Baptist News Service, Jeffrey Haggray, interim…