As the Southern Baptist Convention in its recent annual meeting has proved itself unreliably Baptist, it gives me pause to think about how quickly the transmogrification of this Baptist denomination into its ecclesiastical opposite has happened. Baptist folk often have...
Lent isn’t over just yet, and we could do with a bit more reflection and repentance as a church and a nation. But spring is arriving. I can see it dawning over the horizon, pinkish yellow as it seeps into…
For decades, progressive white Baptists have opened leadership roles at the highest level to women and people of color. But Black Baptists have shown a greater willingness to affiliate with the conservative Southern Baptist Convention than with more moderate groups…
New research into the impact of online church programming suggests that virtual prayer gatherings may boost participation and fellowship for Christians active or inactive in congregational life. Online corporate prayer opportunities, when offered, have been found to be especially effective…
Last week in Norman, Okla., where I serve as a pastor, our high school girls basketball team was playing in the state championship tournament. During the National Anthem, the team took a knee. The announcer, believing his microphone was turned…
Twenty-five churches associated with the Alliance of Baptists are participating in a five-year national scholarly study of how to expose and address systemic racism in their local contexts. The “Churches that THRIVE for Racial Justice” initiative is funded by a…
In the summer of 2014, I served as a hospital chaplain placed at an 1,800-bed adult trauma level one and pediatric level three hospital in Park Ridge, Ill. I was the only African American full-time chaplain at this hospital, and…
Read our latest Letter to the Editor from John Dye of Louisville, Ky., about the Southern Baptist Convention’s expulsion of his church. He writes: “I have been a Baptist for over 50 years, but I finally got the ax at…
As the United States Senate held its first hearing for the proposed Equality Act March 17, a group of Black Christian leaders threw their support behind a competing piece of legislation known as the Fairness for All Act. The Equality…
Yesterday was my 80th birthday. Despite the unopened and flagged emails that have piled up since the Texas deep freeze in mid-February and the papers overflowing on my office desk, I gave myself the day off to reflect, remember, to…
Growing up, the church always was a safe place for me. I grew up in the same small-town church my entire life, and a lot of our life revolved around the church. Sundays were filled with Sunday school and the…
Members of a Baylor University commission charged with recommending ways to address the institution’s historic ties to slavery and the Confederacy often were distressed as they studied the racist beliefs and actions of the university’s founders. “I would say it…
On the evening of March 16, Robert Long allegedly shot and killed eight people, seven of whom were women, at three separate massage parlors in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Initial reports say he is a Christian and the son of…
