By Jeff Brumley The president of an African-American Baptist group in Washington, D.C., has criticized the city’s mayor over reports that the politician uninvited an ex-gay singer from performing in a Civil Rights commemoration event. The singer, pastor and 2010…
Faith-based re-entry saves tax dollars
By Jeff Brumley A Baylor University study shows that faith-based prisoner re-entry programs – at least in one case – help ex-cons, society and taxpayers. The study analyzed the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, a Minnesota program that uses volunteers and private…
Baptists boot scouts from Alaska church
By Jeff Brumley A Baptist congregation in Alaska has booted a local scouting troop because of the Boy Scouts of America decision to welcome openly gay members. The Anchorage Daily News reported that Anchorage Baptist Temple dropped its sponsorship of…
Jordan challenges Christians in new book
By Jeff Brumley In July 2012, author, professor and self-described Clarence Jordan devotee Brian Kaylor was doing research about the late Koinonia Farms founder when he discovered some mysterious boxes in the Jordan archives. When he figured out what was…
Doubt not a sin, says pastor to church hit by murder
By Jeff Brumley The Alabama church whose associate pastor was detained in a murder investigation learned Sunday that it’s OK for Southern Baptists to express anger and sadness and even to harbor doubts about God and faith when faced with…
HERITAGE: A religious liberty champion
In 1872 Abram Poindexter, one of the giants among Baptists, a well-known evangelist and seasoned debater in public assemblies, died at the same time the Southern Baptist Convention was in its annual meeting. Richard Fuller, a powerful preacher of the…
OPINION: More progressive or more vision?
A recent Religious Herald article [July 29] analyzes new research that predicts a coming rise in the number of religious progressives relative to moderates and conservatives. The analysis is troubling to me for a number of reasons. First, it does…
VITAL SIGNS: We can do better
I recently spent a memorable and meaningful few days with a group of music ministers. Throughout our times of worship, breakouts and social interaction, I had many significant conversations with these men and women about their life in the 21st…
OPINION: The nature of conversion
This past June, during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly in Greensboro, I had the privilege of attending a workshop led by Dr. Bill Leonard, one of my former Wake Forest professors. This workshop was titled “Take Me to the…
TRENDING: Continuous partial attention
Around the turn of the century, tech-industry veteran Linda Stone coined the term, “continuous partial attention.” This state is, in the words of her June interview in The Atlantic, “the modern predicament of being constantly attuned to everything without fully…
Swallowed or saved? When small churches merge with large ones
Some see the nation’s burgeoning church merger and multisite movements resulting from larger congregations preying on smaller ones, pressuring them into relinquishing buildings and land in exchange for survival. In some circles, that’s called “steeple-jacking.” But it’s also largely a…
Richmond church launches fourth campus with aid of existing congregation
Bon Air Baptist Church, a congregation with multiple campuses on Richmond’s Southside, has launched a new church on the site of New Covenant Baptist Church in the city’s near West End. Called Bon Air Baptist @ the Village, this church…