Very regularly, ministers ask for my help with ministerial and congregational life in very pragmatic ways. What is the best way to organize, plan, preach, administer, supervise, lead, teach, evangelize, pray, cultivate a spiritual life, raise a family, play? You…
EDITORIAL: Duty demands it
Last week, Bill Webb, an editor colleague from Missouri, and I sat with an interpreter and listened to heart-breaking accounts from Syrian refugees of life and death. And hopelessness. (See “Dispiriting Stories” on p. 15.) In the form of Syrian…
With mailboxes and lockers, Richmond church helps homeless transition to more stable lifestyle
RICHMOND — Home is where your mailbox is and for some homeless residents in Richmond’s historic Oregon Hill neighborhood, that’s now Pine Street Baptist Church. The recent addition of 50 lockers and 25 mailboxes is about more than a safe…
Church budget choices reveal ethics
By Robert Dilday & Ken Camp It may not feel like it to number-crunchers huddled around a Sunday school classroom table, fine-tuning annual financial proposals for an upcoming church business meeting. But church budgets are moral statements that reflect ethical…
Balancing beauty and the budget
By Ken Camp and Robert Dilday Houston-area residents know South Main Baptist Church for the beauty of its Romanesque sanctuary and for its reputation as a progressive congregation committed to meeting physical and spiritual needs, both locally and globally. Keeping…
Jimmy Carter’s pastor moving
By Bob Allen The world’s most famous Sunday school teacher is losing a pastor. Jeff Summers, pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., for eight years, has announced his decision to accept a call to New Hope Baptist Church…
Church bus wreck kills eight
This story was edited after posting to correct an error in the second paragraph. By Bob Allen Eight people died Oct. 2 when a church bus returning from a conference led by former Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt blew…
US Baptist joins Kenya peacemaking cause
By Ken Camp A Baptist minister on faculty at a Catholic university recently participated in an international peacemaking initiative in western Kenya. Aaron Tyler, chair of the international relations graduate program at St. Mary’s University, joined an effort to help…
Board members turn citizen journalists
By Bob Allen Former Cooperative Baptist Fellowship moderator Harriet Harral turned citizen journalist when her return flight from an Associated Baptist Press board meeting turned into a bomb scare that made national headlines Oct. 1. Harral, CBF moderator in 2007-2008,…
Minister visits burned Egyptian churches
By Jeff Brumley By his own admission, San Antonio youth minister Gavin Rogers has a knack for making his parents worry. In 2012, as minister to youth and families at Trinity Baptist Church, he observed Lent by living as a…
As BTSR adjusts to new campus, an open house will give public opportunity to tour new facility
RICHMOND — As Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond begins operations at a new location, friends and supporters will have an opportunity to tour the new campus Oct. 17, when the seminary hosts an open house for the public. The 22-year-old…
ABP directors adopt merger plan, Religious Herald trustees to vote Oct. 7
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — Associated Baptist Press directors voted Sept. 30 to merge with the Religious Herald, continuing a process begun in the summer of 2012. Details of the merger plan, by mutual agreement marked confidential until acted upon by…