Until recently, I hated pickles. I didn’t like the smell or the taste but mostly it was the concept. I felt queasy about eating something sitting in a jar for who knows how long. It seemed too akin to embalming,…
OPINION: The Trayvon Martin case as a symbol
Anyone who followed the Florida v. George Zimmerman court case closely was probably not surprised by the verdict. Even to this legal layman, who saw only snippets of the arguments provided by the media, it seemed that the prosecution’s task…
OPINION: A personal affirmation of Suzii Paynter and CBF
I grew up in Atlanta, Ga. If Texas is the belt buckle of the Bible Belt, Atlanta is that belt’s designer label and matching handbag. Whereas the Church should be a socially-engaged witness in its particular context, my Atlanta church…
Mission trip provides religious liberty lesson
Less than a month after police in the former Soviet state of Georgia intervened to rescue peaceful gay-rights protestors from a religious mob, Baptist young adults from the United States stood alongside Georgian Baptists to speak up for Muslims denied…
200 years after first American Baptist missionaries arrived in Burma, mission landscape is altered
Yam Kho Pau, general secretary of the Myanmar Baptist Convention, recently invited American Baptist International Ministries to renew its 200-year-old ministry in Burma interrupted since the 1960s by political unrest. “This gathering is the renewal of a relationship between ABC…
Lottie Moon’s church led by a woman
What would Lottie do? Last year, Southern Baptists gave $149.3 million to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions, hailed as the third-highest amount in the offering’s 124-year history. With less fanfare, meanwhile, the iconic missionary’s childhood church quietly…
EDITORIAL: Egyptian hope
According to a recent Associated Press report, for many years Egypt’s Christian minority refused to become involved in politics for fear of reprisals. They relied, instead, on their church to make their case to those in power. When Hosni Mubarak…
Missions comes full circle for ABC
By Bob Allen Two hundred years after the first American Baptist missionaries arrived in Burma, American Baptist Churches USA and the Myanmar Baptist Convention look forward to a new chapter of cooperation and collaboration in an altered missionary landscape. Yam…
Stunned by arson, church will worship Sunday
By Jeff Brumley Investigators now know that arson was the cause of two fires that struck Providence Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., Wednesday morning. What authorities and the CBF-affiliated church still don’t know is who did it and why. “At…
FBC West receives Baylor donation
By Jeff Brumley First Baptist Church of West, Texas, will receive nearly $300,000 from a Baylor University fund established after the fertilizer plant explosion that partially flattened the city in April. The money from the Baylor West Relief Fund will…
Glorieta leaseholders express concerns
By Ken Camp and John Loudat Leaseholders at Glorieta Conference Center left a July 9 meeting with the property’s new owners hopeful they will be offered better options for their interests at the 61-year-old Baptist camp in New Mexico. The…
Lottie Moon’s church led by woman
By Bob Allen What would Lottie do? Last year, Southern Baptists gave $149.3 million to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions, hailed as the third-highest amount in the offering’s 124-year history. With less fanfare, meanwhile, the iconic missionary’s…