Most would agree that conflict in human relationships is inevitable, even normal. Managed, conflict can cause us to identify needed changes and creates energy enough to make them. It can be a catalyst causing growth. It can cause us to…
TRENDING: Movement thinking, part 1: Adaptive methods
A powerful and welcome trend today is the conversation about starting movements. Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, Seth Godin’s Tribes and Ori Brafman’s The Starfish and the Spider have electrified and mainstreamed this topic. A movement is an informal grouping…
HERITAGE: A life for missions
Helen Emery Falls personified missions. As the daughter of a pastor, she early learned the Christian message, but it was her mother who inspired her about missions. As a teenager she felt called to full-time Christian vocation. She spent the…
EDITORIAL: Celebrating America
Can there be a better time than the days surrounding July 4th to contemplate the values and mysteries of being American? I realize that some object to the commandeering of the term “America” to apply only to the United States….
OPINION: O, Death
O, Death O, Death Won’t you spare me over til another year Well what is this that I can't see With ice cold hands takin’ hold of me Well I am death, none can excel I’ll open the door to…
VITAL SIGNS: Describe a healthy pastor search process, please
The search process for a new pastor is both an exhilarating and a risky time for a congregation. Healthy congregations go at this task from the framework of a spiritual discernment process that is unique to the free-call tradition of…
Pastor blasts biblical inerrancy
By Bob Allen Biblical inerrancy – the idea that the Bible’s authors were safeguarded against error when inspired by God to write facts about science and history in Scripture – is a misleading and harmful concept that has been used…
New book tells story of loss, redemption
By Bob Allen A new book self-described as “one part worst-case scenario and three parts God’s creative redemption,” about a church-bus tragedy that turned into a grassroots movement for doing good, cracked the Amazon Top 50 Christian Living Hot New…
Group is changing the face of homelessness in Baltimore
BALTIMORE—It’s a humid Monday night in downtown Baltimore, but the heat isn’t slowing Greg Gilchrist down. He keeps a towel handy next to his Bible as he preaches to a crowded room at Code Blue Shelter. Amens ring across the…
For Bluefield student, providing clean water is mandate
BLUEFIELD, Va.—“Every time you take a sip of clean water, someone dies of unclean water somewhere in the world.” That’s the statement that stirs the heart of Bluefield College student J.D. Taylor. So much so, he’s doing something about it…
Pastor grateful after Colo. fire spares home
By Jeff Brumley A Colorado Baptist pastor feels stunned and grateful in the midst of raging wildfires that have spared his home and church but killed two neighbors and destroyed hundreds of houses. “Numbness and shock – PTSD is what…
Baptist leaders meet in Chile
By Bob Allen About 300 Baptist leaders from around the world are in Santiago, Chile, this week for an annual gathering of the Baptist World Alliance. In an opening celebration service July 2, BWA President John Upton recalled worldwide Baptist…