Baptist News Global

Transitions for the week of 10-29-21

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Darryl Bradsbery, to Wayland Temple Baptist Church, Philadelphia, Pa., as interim pastor. Mike Cauthorne, to Gwathmey Baptist Church,…

What the labor market has to do with churches: ‘People need to know’

If you want to know what is going on with the U.S. labor market, take an Uber somewhere in a large city and spend the time getting to know your driver. Last week, Ana, my driver from downtown Nashville to…

Samford cancels Jon Meacham speech after ‘pro-life’ activists spark challenges

Baptist-affiliated Samford University has uninvited Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham to speak at inauguration ceremonies for the school’s new president, after anti-abortion activists created an online petition that has garnered nearly 1,000 signatures and the Student Government Association passed a…

Virginia church supports Passport staffers with seminary scholarships

A Virginia church has teamed with a Christian summer camp organization to offer something extra to its summer youth workers who want to pursue theological education. River Road Church, Baptist, has established the Chester Phelps Passport Seminary Scholarship with Passport…

Six ways to survive the fall of evangelicalism and the rise of emergence

Fall is my favorite time of year, and this year I find in it a metaphor for the current identity crisis within the evangelical church. Just as the leaves fall from the trees, so it seems that evangelicalism is falling…

In Touch grants Southwestern Seminary $2 million to endow academic chair named for Charles Stanley

In Touch Ministries, the global broadcasting ministry founded by Charles Stanley in 1977, has made a $2 million gift to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to create an endowed chair in Stanley’s name. The Charles F. Stanley Chair for the Advancement…

Eschew obfuscation

I’m not a bumper sticker guy, but mid-week after one particular Sunday sermon someone showed up in my office with a gift in hand, patterned on that sermon title: “Eschew Obfuscation.” You know: Avoid making things difficult to understand. I…

HBCUs urge Congress to see infrastructure funding as a justice issue

The president of a historically Black college with deep Baptist roots has joined an array of HBCU leaders to demand their under-funded institutions receive a bigger slice of the federal budget currently being drafted by Congress. Kevin Cosby of Louisville-based…

I’m adopting a patron sinner for All Saints Day

Recently, my spouse, daughter and I spent some time with a family in our small village. It was long overdue. A visit we wanted to happen back in early 2020, but you know, the world sort of shut down and…

Schaeffer: White nationalist evangelicals believe in Trump like an article of faith

Evangelicals fervently support Donald Trump — a thrice-married gambling mogul and television reality star — because they have made his presidency a matter of faith, said Frank Schaeffer, son of the late evangelical theologian Francis Schaeffer. “In other words, when…

Remembering Ralph Carmichael, the father of contemporary church music

It has been an unusual, loss-filled few weeks in the world of church music. One by one we have seen the obituaries of some of the major players come across our desks. A few weeks ago, long-retired professor of music…

What if your ‘Christian worldview’ is based on some sinful ideas?

I suspect that few people who frame their ideas, or their disagreements with others, in terms of “worldviews” have felt the need to deliberate on what that word means, let alone whether it is valuable or valid. Few, that is,…

Nobody dislikes Southern Baptists more than Al Mohler

Trump EEOC claims more religious discrimination on vaccine mandates

What I wish Christians knew about Sharia Law

On telling a brother he is going to hell