By Amy Butler Well, another Rapture prediction has come and gone and I don’t know about you, but I’m still here. This time, everybody seems to be talking about it, from conservative Christian friends, to non-believers, to my friends who…
The Ascension of Jesus
By R. Kevin Johnson This week Christians commemorate the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. Like the event recorded in the scriptures, the celebration takes place 40 days after Jesus’ resurrection. In the first chapter of Acts, Jesus spends a few…
John Jay report holds lessons for Baptists
By Christa Brown Last week, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice released the results of a five-year study on the “causes and context” of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests. Though the study was commissioned by United States…
Vocation: Claiming and being claimed
By Bill Leonard In 1836 a free black woman paid $38 to print 1,000 copies of her autobiography titled The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee, A Coloured Lady. It is the first autobiography of an African-American woman to…
Tragedy creates opportunity to work together
By Bill Webb It is about 4 p.m. on Monday, May 23. Updates have been trickling in all day after a tornado clawed through the south side of Joplin, Mo., less than 24 hours earlier, leaving a death toll of at…
Thank you, Harold Camping
By Jim Denison Traveling abroad this week with limited Internet access and writing nine hours after Harold Camping’s failed prediction that the Rapture would begin May 21, I find myself oddly grateful. Camping was wrong again — no massive earthquakes…
The End Times as Emergency Exit
By Chris Hughes In his 2010 sermon for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly, Bill Leonard shared his views about the End Times. “If the rapture comes and I’m still on this earth,” he said, “I’m not going.” “I’m going…
Traps for clergy and their new congregation
By Bill Wilson Several traps come to mind: The trap of expectations. Coming into a congregation as the new minister is a wonderful season of new beginnings and possibilities. People await you with great expectations. Often those expectations are exaggerated…
Ed Vick: Baptists’ Columbus
By David Wilkinson For more than 17 of its nearly 21 years, Associated Baptist Press was blessed to have a Columbus on deck for its voyage across uncharted waters as the first and only independent news service created by and…
Plan your weekend; tomorrow isn’t Judgment Day
By Leroy Seat By now everyone knows about the billboards across the country that read, “Judgment Day May 21.” Harold Camping, president of Family Radio, is the man behind the stir. According to his interpretation of the Bible, the Rapture…
Learning the language of the soul
By Amy Butler Language study, I understand, comes with ease to some people. I have great admiration for and not a small amount of jealousy toward people who can pick up a new language with ease and flair. I recently…
Taking our shoes off at the door
By Laura Rector Starting out in ministry to Korean churches, I made inevitable cultural mistakes — like taking my Korean-American youth group on a mission trip and bringing along 10 pounds of American rice. The teenagers refused to eat it….