This is the ninth in a BNG series of articles on Christianity and democracy that will lead toward the July 4 celebration of America’s 250th birthday. The series has been curated by Carol McEntyre, senior minister at First Baptist Church of...
Back in 2005, a group of retailers wanted to find a way to cash in on consumer’s desire to find deals around Thanksgiving. So, a trade group created Cyber Monday as an unofficial day to offering discounts during the Christmas…
When I meet with church leaders, they often ask me to help them devise a strategy for increasing giving among their members. While there is no simple plan that works everywhere, there are several ways to cultivate positive attitudes about…
By Jeff Brumley A handful of Cooperative Baptist churches are proving that short-term mission trips aren’t just for spring break, anymore. First Baptist in Gainesville, Ga. and Calvary Baptist in Lexington, Ky., sent mixed youth and adult groups to Haiti…
“This is the big one, Elizabeth!” I could feel it. It had to be the fasting. Okay, it was only fasting from Words With Friends… for a week. But it’s harder than it sounds. For a Sunday School lesson on the…
By Jeff Brumley When it began nearly a decade ago, the Alternative Christmas Gift Fair at Boulevard Baptist attracted barely 100 church members and generated a few thousand dollars for participating nonprofits and mission groups. But it has since generated…
RALEIGH – Woman’s Missionary Union of North Carolina has ended an effort to purchase a new headquarters building in Lillington, N.C., citing the difficulty of fundraising for the project in a weak economy. WMUNC’s executive board voted Nov. 15 to…
As a child growing up in the rural church, I remember singing the old hymn “Count Your Blessings,” written by Johnson Oatman Jr. in 1897. The words of the song urged us to “Count your blessings, name them one by…
By Bill Leonard “Time was, when the population of many regions of America was almost entirely religious; it is not so now. Thousands there are, even of those who regularly attend public worship, who have no theology, no family prayer,…
By Bill J. Leonard “Time was, when the population of many regions of America was almost entirely religious; it is not so now. Thousands there are, even of those who regularly attend public worship, who have no theology, no family…
By Bill J. Leonard “Time was, when the population of many regions of America was almost entirely religious; it is not so now. Thousands there are, even of those who regularly attend public worship, who have no theology, no family…
By Bob Allen Baptists in the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo appealed to the global Baptist community for help in responding to a humanitarian catastrophe caused by fighting between government and rebel forces in the…
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist pastor in Oklahoma second-guessed himself after the arrest of his former youth pastor on eight counts of sexual abuse of a minor. Jeff Self, pastor of First Baptist Church in Coalgate, Okla., told CBS…
