By Ken Camp East Texas Baptist University and Houston Baptist University have filed the latest legal challenge to a preventative services mandate in the Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama in 2010. The two Texas Baptist schools…
Online community as missions field
By Jeff Brumley Jim Somerville pastors a Baptist congregation in Virginia that, thanks to the Internet, includes people living in Austria, India and Slovakia. And now, he learned recently, some guy in Iowa. “He said ‘I tune in online and…
VITAL SIGNS: Curbing an epidemic
There is a consistent theme in the conversations I have with clergy and laity alike about what frustrates or challenges them most. Without a doubt it is: Staff. Every pastor’s gathering in which we ask for issues that need attention…
BGAV budget proposal would reduce allocations in 2013
LYNCHBURG, Va. — The Baptist General Association of Virginia will consider in November a slightly reduced overall budget for 2013 which significantly decreases allocations for most of its partner agencies while increasing by about 6.5 percent funding for ministries of its…
Lawmaker defends slavery comments
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist state legislator in Arkansas is standing by a self-published book he wrote in 2009 where he suggests that slavery may have been a blessing in disguise for African-Americans. Republican State Rep. Jon Hubbard, a…
Passport taps Va. minister for new post
By Robert Dilday Dale Tadlock, an associate pastor in Virginia and current president of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship youth ministry network, has been named coordinator of a new provider of curriculum resources developed by Passport Inc., a Birmingham, Ala.-based student…
Thriving cowboy churches buck ‘fad’ status
By Jeff Brumley Charles Higgs is all too familiar with the smirks and jokes generated when talk turns to cowboy churches. Images of worship in rodeo arenas, preachers on horseback and baptisms in cattle troughs also elicit criticism – especially…
The life of a cowboy church pastor
By Jeff Brumley As the pastor of Lost Pines Cowboy Church in Elgin, Texas, Greg Long pulls the usual pastoral and preaching responsibilities as ministers in traditional churches. But visiting his flock begins to take on a literal meaning sometimes. “A…
Hurricane unexpectedly extends mission trip but team takes it in stride, using the time to minister
MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — As a team from Cool Spring Baptist Church in Mechanicsville, Va., prepared to leave for a five-day mission trip to Haiti on Aug. 22, some people were asking, “Isn’t there a hurricane headed that way?” Glen Bohannon,…
‘Mock dock’ service points to ministry success in reaching boaters on summer Sundays on river
HENRICO, Va. — Bill Korman is a high energy, let’s-get-it-done Richmond businessman and a deacon of Poplar Springs Baptist Church in Henrico, Va. He is also the driving force behind a unique outreach ministry aimed at boaters who spend their…
2-‘Mock dock’ service points to ministry success
HENRICO, Va. — Bill Korman is a high energy, let’s-get-it-done Richmond businessman and a deacon of Poplar Springs Baptist Church in Henrico, Va. He is also the driving force behind a unique outreach ministry aimed at boaters who spend their…
3-‘Mock dock’ service points to ministry success
HENRICO, Va. — Bill Korman is a high energy, let’s-get-it-done Richmond businessman and a deacon of Poplar Springs Baptist Church in Henrico, Va. He is also the driving force behind a unique outreach ministry aimed at boaters who spend their…