News analysis by Bob Allen Women secretly videotaped while showering or in front of a bathroom vanity in the home of a popular Southern Baptist evangelist compared the experience to rape, while young husbands described anger at being betrayed by…
Moderate heritage group to cease operations
ATLANTA (ABP) — A society formed 20 years ago to chronicle history of the Southern Baptist Convention from the moderate perspective during the last two decades of the 20th century has ended its operations and given a $10,000 gift endowment…
Alabama coffee shop fills ministry need
By Jeff Brumley Missional ministry usually involves a church searching beyond its four walls for ways to tackle the pressing needs of its community. Usually. “I agree with the whole missional concept,” said Mart Gray, pastor of Covenant Community Church…
Church van crash kills two
By Bob Allen Two people were killed and 12 others injured Sunday morning when a van carrying youth from Cedar Grove Baptist Church in Maryville, Tenn., collided head-on with an SUV while returning from a weekend retreat in Gatlinburg. The…
OPINION: The value of getting dirty
When you work in a church you never know what a person’s visit might bring, but you always have to be ready for that stranger through whom God has something to say. A few days ago a little man with…
WINN RECOMMENDS
François Fénelon: A Biography, Peter Gorday (Paraclete) Given the election cycle we find ourselves in the midst of, I’m picking three titles that help us engage this political moment from new angles. Fénelon was a bishop in King Louis’ court,…
OPINION: The choice: Purpose or relevance?
Pastors get to have these complex and wonderful conversations with people from all walks of life. I think the words, “Go ahead, I’ll listen” are tattooed on my forehead with ink that’s invisible when I look in the mirror. Everyone…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Larry Leader plans to plan
Larry Leader’s home phone rings. It’s a call from his pastor, Dee Parsons, asking Larry to serve as a member of All Alike Baptist Church’s new long-range planning group. Larry agrees and puts the first meeting on his calendar. Larry…
Contemplative worship consistent with Baptist principles, say adherents
Contemplative worship — with its emphasis on prayer and reading that leads participants into a silent, meditative encounter with God — pushes some Baptists outside their comfort zone. But the increasingly popular approach sits comfortably with historic Baptist values, according to…
Contemplative worship: It’s not just a Catholic thing
Terms like “silence and reflection,” “creating space” and “getting in touch with yourself” were absent from Chad Kerr’s Baptist upbringing in Georgia. But they’ve since become central to his ability to cope with the demands of life as a bank…
HERITAGE: In memory of a wordsmith
Barbara Dunn Jackson appreciated words and the nuances of their meaning. The walls of her home office were lined with many books on etymology. Barbara wrote a column called “A Last Word” for Synergy, which went to women in ministry….
OUT LOUD
“How did those who drafted the platform make an error that hands back to the Republicans — if only for a nanosecond — the stick they had used to beat the Democrats senseless for a good 30 years?” Jacques Berlinerblau…