Baptist News Global

The Southern Baptists left me

Last week in its annual meeting held in New Orleans, messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention voted to uphold the denomination’s Credentials and Executive Committees in expelling Saddleback Church in California and Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville Ky. The…

The best way to protest the SBC is to carry on and preach louder

Last week, the Southern Baptist Convention’s overwhelming number of messengers voted to kick out Saddleback Church and Fern Creek Baptist due to their inclusion of female leadership. I support the credentialing of female pastors as not only legitimate in our time, but also…

‘May they all be one’

“I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.” — John 17:20-21 John 17 often is labeled as Jesus’ “high-priestly prayer.” This…

Baptists, football and women who changed the game

Baptists love football. How many college and pro football illustrations did I hear in sermons preached in my childhood Southern Baptist church? How many Baptists are just as likely to don college colors and spend Saturdays watching the game as…

My ordination is precious to me

When the Southern Baptist Convention voted last week to reaffirm its expulsion of churches with women pastors on staff and to begin the process of amending its constitution to make sure any member congregation “does not affirm, appoint or employ…

Picking up the pieces of the SBC

An email pen pal wrote me this weekend to point out the irony of the Southern Baptist Convention’s actions last week against women in church leadership: “Do we realize a 20-year-old boy in college can pastor a Baptist church? But…

Juneteenth: Moving from symbolism to substance

When President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation Jan. 1, 1863, it changed the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved Black people in the Confederate states from enslaved to free. It was two-and-a-half years later, on June 19,…

One new book tells kids the story Juneteenth, while another tells adults why Juneteenth matters

When Dorena Williamson was asked to write a children’s book on the importance of Juneteenth, she knew it was a huge task to pull off, not just because of the topic but because of the timeline. This year, our country…

Why Americans shouldn’t dismiss Shiny Happy People’s warning of a Christian-controlled nation

The Shiny Happy People documentary got my attention, too. There is a reason it’s trending right now and you’re seeing it in your feeds and hearing about in conversations. Not only did it provide the history behind the Duggar family’s…

On the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, Lecrae stands out as a crossover

As America prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, one artist stands out as a crossover between the secular and the sacred. Lecrae has risen to the forefront in both genres. And the reason for his success may be…

SBC annual meeting reveals little progress on sexual abuse, not even ‘bare minimum’

When a pace of change is so glacial as to resemble inertia, it means people don’t really care about change. This is what we are seeing in the Southern Baptist Convention with its reform efforts for addressing clergy sex abuse….

The cost of being comfortable is too high

“Men are the primary theologians in their family.” The words sent a jolt through my brain, and my back straightened as I stared up at the guest preacher behind the podium. I scanned the room. Heads were nodding in agreement,…

Supreme Court slides into partisanship

Before the fireworks, be careful what you drink

The contemptible case of Clarence Thomas

The permanent paradoxes of Christian thinking about war