By Bill Leonard Winthrop Hudson, the American Baptist historian, writes: “The most obvious inference to be drawn from our present low spiritual estate would seem to be that the churches are no longer fully measuring up to the specific responsibility…
Pentecost, the birthday of the church
By R. Kevin Johnson This coming Sunday is Pentecost. Coming 50 days after Easter, Pentecost commemorates the day that Jesus’ promise to the disciples was fulfilled and the Holy Spirit descended like flames of fire. This date on the Christian…
Dreaming with God
By Bill Wilson I’ve made a transition in recent years in the way I think and talk about God’s will. For many people, the will of God is a mysterious, elusive and frustrating concept. Too often, we have made it…
Saying ‘no thanks’ to prayer
By David Wilkinson Is it ever a good idea to turn down someone’s offer to pray for you? My neighbor thought so. My wife, Melanie, and I were talking with Kathy and Joe on the sidewalk in front of their…
Being Baptist — An Interracial Journey
By Bill Leonard One Sunday in January 1994, our family — Candyce, Stephanie and I — walked across the parking lot of the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., after the morning service. An elderly African-American woman approached us…
The end of the world as we know it
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…