By Vicki Brown “I want to be a good grandmother (father) but I want to live my life, too.” The refrain echoes around the country as more grandparents assume responsibility for their grandchildren. One in 10 children lives with a…
Churches can help grandparents
By Vicki Brown “The church building is not a monument. It’s an instrument for God,” Timothy Williams, pastor of Bethsaida Missionary Baptist Church in Mexia, Texas, believes. His wife, Cheryl, director of apartment ministries for Buckner International, is praying her church…
Counselor sees grandparenting challenge
By Bill Martin As a counselor at STARRY, Jessica Kilpatrick often is asked to help grandparents who are rearing their grandchildren navigate through communications, discipline and relationship issues. For her, it’s an issue that hits close to home. After bringing…
Houston Baptists transform lives in Peru
By Jeff Brumley There’s what people can imagine, Houston cardiologist Luis Campos says, and then there’s what God can imagine. The 67-year-old South Main Baptist Church member said he has witnessed that repeatedly in almost a decade of ministry with…
Non-profit ministries gain popularity as Baptist pastors and congregations seek to impact community
RICHMOND (ABP) — Travis Collins doesn’t need church health experts to know ego and fear can kill creativity and risk-taking in ministry. Collins, senior pastor at Bon Air Baptist Church in Richmond, said he had a “big time” gut reaction…
Faith groups aim to fight sex trafficking in Wilmington
WILMINGTON, N.C. (RNS) — Just 13. That’s the average age UNICEF reports that girls enter the commercial sex trade in the U.S. And while many Americans might think of sex trafficking as an international problem, it often starts in the…
To draw people to church, offer them something bigger than themselves, seminary prof tells CBFVA
ASHLAND, Va. — The No. 1 reason people join churches today is because someone asked them to be part of something bigger than themselves, a specialist in ministry to youth and young adults told the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia…
OPINION: Loving Libya (and everyone else)
As I journey onward in discovering a distinctly Baptist expression of faith that is both ancient and futuristic, I continue to marvel at the lectionary’s ability to serve as a bridge between the two. Rooted in the liturgical calendar, the…
Prof terms stay-at-home dads ‘man fails’
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist college professor says those families in which the dad stays at home and the wife is the family’s primary breadwinner don’t comport with God’s plan for the family revealed in the Bible. Owen Strachan,…
MMBB head announces retirement
By Bob Allen Sumner Grant, executive director of The Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board since 1998, has announced plans to retire after his successor is named. Grant first joined the staff of the MMBB, a nonprofit Christian organization that provides…
MMBB head announces retirement
By Bob Allen Sumner Grant, executive director of The Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board since 1998, has announced plans to retire after his successor is named. Grant first joined the staff of the MMBB, a non-profit Christian organization that provides…
Hobby Lobby gives OK Baptists $2 million
By Bob Allen Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby has donated $2 million to the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma for purchase of an Assemblies of God youth camp near Davis, Okla. The gift, in addition to more than $3 million given…