Baptist News Global

Survey says many skip religious aspect of Christmas

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The vast majority of Americans celebrate Christmas and most consider it a religious holiday, but for many Jesus isn't the only — or even the main — reason for the season, according to a new report…

Review: ‘The Calling’ a hopeful portrait of religious leadership

By Eileen Campbell-Reed Becoming a pastor, priest, rabbi or imam is no simple matter. The Calling, a new four-hour documentary premiering on PBS, follows seven men and women on their paths to becoming religious leaders. Over the course of 18…

Were you there?

By Lacy Thompson “Does it look right?” “What?” he asks, without moving his eyes from the television screen. It is the football rivalry game of the year. “Do I have it right?” “Do you have what right?” “The nativity scene….

Surprises of 2010

By David Gushee Christmas draws near and 2010 comes to a close. For my year-end column, I offer scattered musings on what were, for me, some of the biggest surprises of 2010. In no particular order, I am surprised: —…

Board approves BGCT executive director search committee

DALLAS— The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board unanimously approved a 15-person committee to find the convention’s next executive director. Voting electronically, board members Dec. 17 approved the 15 people nominated by the chair and vice chair of the…

American Baptist leaders return from study tour in Middle East

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) — A delegation of 12 American Baptist leaders recently returned from a 13-day study tour in the Middle East. Goals of the trip included helping American Baptists become more familiar with the life of the church…

Where is our identity as Jesus’ disciples?

By Norman Jameson Between April and June 1994 an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days in a tribal, ethnic genocide that people outside of Rwanda still do not understand. Most of the dead were Tutsis…

Window washing and Advent

By David Wilkinson The window washers left our house at sunset last night with about 90 percent of the job done. Seems the rest is up to us: we can live with being mostly clean or we can finish the…

Wayland students, staff care for platoon 6,500 miles from home

PLAINVIEW, Texas (ABP) — Students and staff at a Baptist university in Texas turned their attention far from campus, hoping to spread Christmas cheer to troops overseas. Wayland Baptist University student activities coordinator Ericka Miller (left) works on packing boxes of…

Report details hopeless conditions in Gaza

LONDON (ABP) — Residents of Gaza see no hope for a brighter future — and that's one of the most distressing aspects of the situation in the Middle East, according to an international Christian aid-and-development group’s advocacy officer for the…

Layman follows unlikely path to ministry

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — A Baptist layman with an engineering background might not seem a logical choice to lead a spiritual-formation ministry run by United Methodists. Not surprisingly, the path that led Johnny Sears to Upper Room Ministries in Nashville,…

John the Baptist intrudes on Advent

By Amy Butler I’ve been sticking with the Gospel texts assigned by the lectionary for sermon-writing these first three weeks of Advent even though John the Baptist and I have a kind of rocky relationship history. I just have always…

Trump’s war on ‘woke’ targets federal grants and foreign relations

Reflections on In the Twilight of the Christian West

Why rural families need support now

Why do we keep sounding the alarm?