(RNS) — At Charity Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, S.C., Nelson B. Rivers III supports and follows his African-American congregation’s policy: They will only conduct marriages between one man and one woman. But the vice president of the NAACP…
VITAL SIGNS: Boundaries 101
The headlines are relentless. I wince every time I hear of a minister violating sexual or moral boundaries. I listen sadly as clergy describe unrealistic demands placed upon them by their congregation. Over the years I have seen the great…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Are you sure you want to grow?
If deacons were surveyed, they would almost universally say they want people to join their churches. After all, reaching new people is one of our basic tenants as Baptists. We give much effort and even more lipservice to reaching new…
OUT LOUD
“As hard as we work to try to convince the rest of the world that Mississippi has changed —and, in fact, we have — to see an unfortunate situation like that occur is very disappointing.” Phil Bryant The governor of…
WINN RECOMMENDS
Noticing God, Richard Peace (IVP) The noise in our world is incessant, relentless. The clamor during November every four years hits a new fever pitch. Amid all the ominous drumbeats, Peace invites us to notice God all around us, in…
WINN RECOMMENDS
Noticing God, Richard Peace (IVP) The noise in our world is incessant, relentless. The clamor during November every four years hits a new fever pitch. Amid all the ominous drumbeats, Peace invites us to notice God all…
LEADERSHIP LINK: No pews, no suits, no problem
Ron Williams is the pastor of Church at the GYM in Sanford, Fla. As the Baptist church’s name implies, Williams’s congregation meets, well, in a gym. Williams said the goal is to remove the “stained-glass barriers” for people who might…
TRENDING: The future of creativity, part 2: Against brainstorming
Jonah Lehrer’s Imagine: How Creativity Works makes an appealing case that the future of imagination and creativity will emerge from groups rather than from solitary genius. But before you leave the solitude of your study for a table of six at…
HERITAGE: Heap o’ livin’
Edgar Guest, the poet laureate of the common folk in the first half of the last century, said it best in his sentimental verse: “It takes a heap o’ livin’ in a house t’ make it home, a heap of…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Who is to judge?
As the wicked queen gazed into the magic mirror she repeated the familiar couplet: “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” The mirror, having only the face of the queen as a reference, told her exactly…
Team named to address Calvinism in SBC
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee president Frank Page has announced the members of an advisory team who will help him craft a strategic plan to bring together various groups within the convention who hold different opinions…
EDITORIAL: Celebrating what never happened
Dear Jimmy, Well, it’s Sunday afternoon and I am bone-tired and the cause of my weariness was the big doin’s at our little Bluebell Baptist on Saturday. Jim White You might remember Boney and Vera Mae Taylor who have been…