By Bill Leonard Seventeenth century Baptists would have known exactly what was happening when two Rowan County state legislators recently proposed a resolution, affirmed by 11 other legislative colleagues, that declared that the United States Constitution does not “prohibit states…
Underestimating staff burnout
You don’t think your staff are stretched thin? Don’t think you are above burning out? Have you checked the health of your organizational staff? Perhaps you underestimate the power of staff burnout in your congregation or organization. It’s real and…
Brad Paisley as Wheelhouse prophet
By Darrell Gwaltney Jesus says that prophets are not accepted in their hometown. A few of the songs on Brad Paisley’s new album Wheelhouse will likely prove that point. Paisley offers a new album filled with familiar country music topics…
Since it is not 1965, we have to do church different
[This is the second blog post in a series. The first was “Since it is not 1955, we have to do church different” found at http://www.baptistnews.com/blog/generational-differences/since-it-is-not-1955-we-have-to-do-church-different-2013-03-28/#.UWVSpsph7s4.] On Sunday night February 9, 1964 the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show…
Humanitarian aid as a weapon of war
By Rupen Das The two-year-old conflict in Syria is now being played out in three different but interconnected arenas. There is the military conflict that, at the moment from all indications, is deadlocked. There is the media battle, which the…
Your own personal Jesus
“Any time. Any place. Any race.”
Female preachers change church culture
By Pam Durso In establishing Martha Stearns Marshall Month of Preaching, the Baptist Women in Ministry leadership team’s dream was to find churches in which young and starting-out Baptist women ministers could preach. We had heard many stories from women…
A graceless gospel
The moment started innocently enough. I was walking with my wife through an exhibition hall at the Oklahoma State Fair. We were on a date just enjoying our time together. Then a stranger raised his voice from his rather sad…
Judge not, lest ye be judged
By Joseph Havey Every major religion has been the butt of a thousand jokes, but Southern Baptists nearly monopolize the punch line industry. Catholics, Muslims and Jews all have their image, but the Southern Baptist caricature is the gossiping, pie-baking,…
Faith & the Final Four
There’s something about championship games that bring out the athlete wannabe in all of us. After watching the World Series, I grew up intent on becoming the first female pitcher for the New York Yankees. One look at my wind…
When ‘religious’ isn’t religious
As I started my daily read of newspapers, I was shocked (well, disappointed) to learn that our region was one of the least religious regions in America. A new Gallup poll found that, “Only 26 percent of those surveyed in…
Resurrection hurts
By Amy Butler In what must have been a slow news week, I saw a story last week about those iconic Easter candy chicks, Peeps. It seems that about 5 million Peeps are made each day in the months leading…