DALLAS (ABP) — Faith communities in the United States both serve and benefit from immigrants, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter said July 10 in a conference at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. “Immigrants have brought…
British government asks church to take over thousands of state schools
CANTERBURY, England (RNS) — Leading secularists are calling on nonreligious parents to fight a government effort that would allow the Church of England to run thousands of state schools. The schools, or academies, would be privately funded, quasi-independent and accountable…
Megachurch pastor Joel Hunter pays price for attempting to bridge divide between political parties
LONGWOOD, Fla. (RNS) — There’s a price to pay for becoming the voice of moderate conservatism and coalition politics. Even more so for refusing to march in lockstep with the Republican Party. Ask Joel Hunter of Northland Church, Florida’s largest…
Experts: VBS needs missional focus
By Jeff Brumley Relatively few of the 90 to 100 children who attend vacation Bible school at Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church each summer are members of the Jacksonville, Fla., congregation. And that’s just fine with children’s minister Faith McCall. Offering…
Pastor treads lightly on Zimmerman trial
By Bob Allen The day after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of the second-degree murder of Sanford, Fla., teenager Trayvon Martin, a local pastor’s sermon series on the Ten Commandments landed on the Sixth Commandment, “thou shalt not kill.”…
Baptists team up for ‘Loving Oklahoma’
By Jeff Brumley The Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship announced today they will host a major disaster-recovery campaign in August for tornado-battered Oklahomans. “Loving Oklahoma” will be held Aug. 5-10 in five areas in the…
Depressed ministers growing concern
By John Hall Many ministers who smile on the outside are withering inside. Research indicates up to 68 percent of ministers are dealing with symptoms related to depression. Depression in ministry has been discussed increasingly since Matthew Warren, the son…
OPINION: Relegation or responsibility?
What is another word for “thesaurus”? Roget has given every writer a treasure book for alternative ways of saying the same thing. The usage of words rises and falls in the marketplace of ideas and culture much like the tides…
TRENDING: SEKAP
Here’s a no-brainer trend: blogs, Twitter and Facebook pronouncements by public religious leaders going viral with all kinds of unintended negative consequences. Besides making me shake my bald head, it raises the question of what the “best practices” trend will…
VITAL SIGNS: Third pig thinking
You remember the story of the Three Little Pigs, don’t you? Sent out by their mother to make their way in the world, they live in fear of the Big Bad Wolf. Their first order of business is to build…
OPINION: Of cucumbers and pickles
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…