By Jeff Brumley The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is joining forces with some of the biggest names in disaster relief and social services to provide long-term assistance to victims of Hurricane Sandy. A CBF representative and the Fellowship’s logo appeared at…
REVIEW: In ‘World War Z,’ humanity is on its own
Zombies are hot. They are the new “in” storytelling device. World War Z, loosely based on Max Brooks’s novel of the same name, is the latest to make use of the walking dead as a metaphor. The story focuses on…
OPINION: What now?
The news has finally broken. The most anticipated Supreme Court decisions in a long time were finally released last week. A sharply divided court has ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional as far as its implications for…
Neo-monastic communities like Grace and Main may serve as future models for church plants
DANVILLE, Va. (ABP) — Intentional, service-focused Christian communities are getting a lot of buzz in the emergent and missional movements these days, and they’re catching the eye of Baptist groups like the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. But the movement — sometimes…
OPINION: Piggies matter: A perspective on Baptist meetings
Within the short span of eight days, I attended the General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as well as the biennial meeting of the American Baptist Churches USA. Somewhere in the midst of meetings and reunions and worship services,…
REFLECTIONS FROM NEW YORK: Prayers for all peoples
Imagine you’ve invited your Jewish neighbors over to your house for dinner. Immediately after serving your guests, you question whether or not you should offer a prayer. You think to yourself that both Christians and Jews believe in God, so…
Intentional communities inspire, scare
By Jeff Brumley Intentional, service-focused Christian communities are getting a lot of buzz in the emergent and missional movements these days, and they’re catching the eye of Baptist groups like the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. But the movement – sometimes called…
Carter says faith used against women
By Bob Allen The abuse of women is “the most pervasive and unaddressed human-rights violation on Earth,” and too often justified in the name of religion, former President Jimmy Carter said at a June 27-29 conference at the Carter Center…
Paynter unveils vision for ‘CBF 2.0’
This story was edited after posting to correct an error in the 13th paragraph. By Bob Allen The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s new executive coordinator said supporting churches face a choice: “We can be alone, or we can be an even…
CBF orients new leadership groups
By Bob Allen As most of the 2,327 registrants for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s 2013 General Assembly packed suitcases and departed Greensboro, N.C., for home, a few dozen individuals lingered Saturday morning for orientation in the Fellowship’s newly minted governing…
Historian tackles believer’s baptism
By Jeff Brumley Baptist historian Bill Leonard waded into the troubled waters of believer’s baptism June 28, but told his audience it’s really another issue that should be engaging them. “We have to rediscover what it means to say we…
CBF head Suzii Paynter says organizational changes will move Fellowship forward
GREENSBORO (ABP) — Cooperative Baptist Fellowship executive coordinator Suzii Paynter described a “vortex of change” during her first 121 days in office in her report to the final meeting of group’s 22-year-old Coordinating Council June 26. “It’s been a whirlwind,”…