My grandparents taught me that three topics should be avoided in conversation: race, religion and politics. When you remove those subjects, it does not leave very much for conversation, especially if you live in the American South. My grandparents’ admonition…
VITAL SIGNS: Success or significance?
The novelist Walker Percy often said that the trouble with most people is that they are not up to anything significant. Bob Buford once wrote a book titled Halftime: Moving From Success to Significance in which he suggests that many…
TRENDING: Spiritual formation
Dallas Willard died on May 8. Or I should say, quoting Pascal, what he once believed, he now sees. Perhaps no other figure in the past 50 years has caused so many North American evangelicals to think so deeply about…
WINN RECOMMENDS: Books that matter
The World is Not Ours To Save, by Tyler Wigg-Stevenson (IVP) A number of years ago, I read an essay where Tyler Wigg-Stevenson said, “The world is not ours to save, but we do serve the mission of the God…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Good stewardship means being wise in your giving
Years ago I served as the treasurer of the ministerial alliance in our town. I soon learned that some people had become highly skilled in separating well-meaning Christians and even churches from their money! Good stewardship takes seriously Jesus’ admonition…
Obsessed with the End
By Ken Camp and Bob Allen In addition to Mother’s Day, many churches around the world will celebrate Sunday, May 12, as Ascension Sunday, recalling the day that Jesus’ resurrected body ascended into heaven as his disciples looked on 40…
Georgetown still seeking president
By Bob Allen Georgetown College’s search for a new president will continue after two of three previously announced finalists withdrew from further consideration. College officials said May 9 that former Lexington, Ky., Mayor Jim Newberry and Jason Rogers of Belmont…
Faith leaders oppose religious profiling
By Bob Allen As the Senate opened formal debate on a proposal for comprehensive immigration reform, a group of religious organizations called on senators to include a ban on religious profiling in the final package. An 844-page legislative plan developed…
Minister: gay marriage not Baptist fight
By Bob Allen An American Baptist leader in Illinois says clergy opponents of same-sex marriage violate Baptist principles by asking the government to impose their religious beliefs on everyone else. Larry Greenfield, executive minister of the American Baptist Churches of…
Minister says gay marriage not Baptist fight
By Bob Allen An American Baptist leader in Illinois says clergy opponents of same-sex marriage violate Baptist principles by asking the government to impose their religious beliefs on everyone else. Larry Greenfield, executive minister of the American Baptist Churches of…
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Governance study committee is ‘spot on’
I write to commend the committee appointed by Baptist General Association of Virginia president, Carl Johnson, and chaired by Jim Baucom for the enlightened white paper they produced identifying deficiencies in the BGAV governing apparatus. Specifically, the five areas addressed…
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: It’s not your mother’s WMU
Recently I was invited to the 2013 Shine Conference for Acteens, sponsored by Woman’s Missionary Union of Virginia. I was asked to share my experience of having malaria. I was also asked to sit in on a session that was…