Baptist News Global

United Methodists combine climate divestment with sustainable investing

On the eve of COP26, the United Nations’ climate conference scheduled for Oct. 31-Nov. 12 in Glasgow, Scotland, news outlets are focusing on potential actions by world governments to reduce emissions causing the global climate crisis. Less known to the…

Silent majority, we need you now

Silent majority, I know you are kind-hearted people who just want to peacefully worship God and love others. We all want that. Silent majority, I know you had no idea this was going on in your church. You keep your…

Trump didn’t dupe evangelicals; they chose him, Baptist author says

Author and Baptist pastor Rodney Kennedy is no fan of Donald Trump or of the evangelicals who helped put the former president into the White House in 2016. But he’s equally disdainful of those who portray Trump’s conservative Christian base…

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…

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