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…
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…
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…
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….
Will the world end on May 21?
By Jim Denison A billboard on the way to my office proclaims “Judgment Day May 21” and states that “The Bible Guarantees It.” The group behind this prediction has purchased 1,200 billboards in the United States and 2,000 in foreign…