By J. Duane Bolin Last year Southern Baptists collected nearly $150 million dollars for international missionaries through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. International missionaries could not continue to do the work they do without these funds donated sacrificially outside tithes…
My connection with the Rev. Will D. Campbell
In the fall of 2004, I was taking a seminary course on Thomas Merton. It was being taught by Merton friend and scholar E. Glenn Hinson. Dr. Hinson knew of my near-obsession with all things Will Campbell, and he helped…
May God deny you peace
By Miguel De La Torre “¡Dios no os de paz y si gloria!” I begin my charge to the class of 2013 by quoting one of my intellectual mentors, the great early 20th century philosopher, Miguel de Unamuno. For those…
Making (theological) sense of natural disaster
Like many, I’ve followed the story of the tornado-spawned tragedy in Oklahoma. The images called up memories of when an EF-4 tornado swept through Murfreesboro, Tenn., where I served as a pastor at the time. A young mother and her…
What happened to the Baptists?
By Will Campbell When I was going to school on the G.I. Bill of Rights, right after the Spanish-American War, they told me that the first few minutes of any address or sermon should be given over to sheer foolishness…
What happened to the Baptists
By Will Campbell When I was going to school on the G.I. Bill of Rights, right after the Spanish-American War, they told me that the first few minutes of any address or sermon should be given over to sheer foolishness…
Remembering Will Campbell, a spiritual brother
Some years ago, songwriter and poet Mickey Newbury sat down to pen a song about Cortelia Clark. With the background full of sounds of distant trains and despair dripping from the trees, he led with this verse . . ….
Time to count our blessings
My ministry “day job” is to give leadership to my church fellowship’s national disaster response. In this role with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, I interact with our churches, other churches and faith-groups, NGO’s and voluntary organizations active in disasters. I…
Son of Amite County, child of God
By Merrill Hawkins I preached my first sermon in 1980 at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in Amite County, Miss. Walter Stewart, a kind and gentle man, always with several days of beard growth and always at Sunday-morning church, told me…