Friendships transcend labels. More than ten years ago I ventured with a friend to a conference not organized and characterized by my denomination, Southern Baptists. The event was the National Pastors Convention hosted by Leadership Journal, Zondervan, and Youth Specialties,…
Am I Emergent-Baptist?
I minister on the periphery of Baptist life, trying to start a progressive Baptist church in the heart of the old empire. I’m old enough to remember well the Baptist wars of decades ago, and yet new enough to ministry…
A CBF leader for the future
By Ircel Harrison The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has a nominee as third executive coordinator of the organization. Once again, the nominee is from Texas, but this nominee is female and a layperson — Suzii Paynter. Prior coordinators Cecil Sherman and…
Emergence Christianity, Baptist life, and Flannery O’Connor
A little over a week ago, I walked into the Gibson guitar factory in Memphis, and gathered with six others to begin our tour. The group was fairly evenly divided by gender, with three men and four women. We asked…
CBF and the emergence Christianity movement
Last week I attended the Emergence Christianity event in Memphis featuring Phyllis Tickle, Brian McLaren, Nadia Bolz-Weber, and others. The emergent crowd is an interesting group, with lots of diversity: age, denomination, and plenty of piercings and tattoos if not…
Bring ye all the tithes into the PayPal
By Bill Leonard On the first Sunday of 2013 we picked up our offering envelopes at First Baptist Church, Highland Avenue in Winston-Salem, N.C. Our pastor encouraged us to do so, noting that some boxes never leave the building. Eschewing…
Bring ye all the tithes into the PayPal
By Bill Leonard On the first Sunday of 2013 we picked up our offering envelopes at First Baptist Church, Highland Avenue in Winston-Salem, N.C. Our pastor encouraged us to do so, noting that some boxes never leave the building. Eschewing…
When we can’t forgive, we’re stuck
To celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary, Nancy and I went to “Les Miserables,” a musical I had never seen before. Nor have I read the 1,500 page novel, although I’ve been hearing references to it all my life. Unavoidably,the…
3 questions for worship
By Bob Burroughs This is a three-question commentary, so please stay with me. First: Who is watching? As I was standing recently (20 minutes!) in a contemporary church service (and since I didn’t know the praise song) I found myself…