Baptist News Global

Transitions for the week of 11-3-23

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Bradley Beals, to Warrenton (Va.) Baptist Church, as senior pastor. He has been serving as transitional pastor there….

Kinzinger’s journey: From religious fundamentalism to political fundamentalism’s foe

Adam Kinzinger learned all about religious fundamentalism growing up at Calvary Baptist Church in Normal, Ill., and other independent fundamental Baptist congregations that practiced separation from the world, prohibited worldly pleasures and provided plentiful rules that freed true believers “from…

The 1 percent church

Last week, I shared my story about serving as a megachurch pastor. This week, I’d like to tell you about my experience leading a small-membership rural church. The two pastorates could not be more different. Most of my 40-year ministerial…

You don’t have to demonize us just because we’ve left the faith as you believe it

One of the most dismissive and hurtful statements ex-evangelicals hear from our conservative evangelical family and friends after we deconstruct their walls is: “You must have never been saved to begin with.” Another way they say it is, “You must…

Study finds Americans’ understanding of ‘family’ is changing

What does the idea of “family” mean anymore? According to a new national research, Americans’ ideas of marriage and family are changing and people have mixed feelings about how that will affect the future. Pew Research Center released a new…

Gerontocracy

Lately, I’ve been thinking about gerontocracy. It’s hard to miss in our current news. Many debates are raging about President Biden’s age. Sen. Mitch McConnell has had a couple of super public uncomfortable health scares. Both leaders are part of…

Ministry jobs and more

Baptist News Global provides a free listing of ministry-related jobs for Baptist churches, theological institutions and organizations across the United States. Each free posting is for 30 days and is limited to 150 words. Postings may be extended another 30…

Missouri church confesses and laments its past ties to slavery

The congregation at First Baptist Church in Columbia, Mo., recently held a worship service devoted to confessing and lamenting the church’s historical connection to slavery. The October service was part a year-long observance of the church’s bicentennial, which will be…

Bridging racial divides with Black gospel music

Note: This is the fourth in a five-part series on the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program made possible by generous funding from the Prichard Family Foundation. Black gospel music has a cross-cultural appeal that can help bridge racial divides…

Where are the trustees?

I still remember sitting in the wooden chairs in Sunday school as faithful men and women taught me the word of God, from curriculum that came from the Baptist Sunday School Board, now known as Lifeway Christian Resources. I would…

Georgia Baptist retirees relieved to learn Health Care Foundation will cover their benefits again in 2024

“Yes!” That is the overwhelming response from Georgia Baptist Mission Board retirees whose health care benefits are being extended another year. The benefits were cancelled by the largest Southern Baptist state convention east of the Mississippi River in late 2021…

How to find the trustees of the SBC entities behind the amicus brief

Who’s actually responsible for the positions and actions taken by entities of the Southern Baptist Convention? This is a pressing question now, as controversy flares over the SBC and three of its entities signing an amicus brief in a Kentucky…

Theologizing with Larkin Poe, 10 years after Reskinned

Ministry leader with tall tales wins GOP bid for Colorado governor

What Willy Rice once knew

What I learned July 5 at church