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...
In college I read a story by Leo Tolstoy called “How Much Land Does A Man Need?” Tolstoy’s story is about a peasant named Pahom, whose desire is to own enough land to make him wealthy. It did not start…
Wake Forest University School of Divinity has announced a $5 million grant that will establish a new center to address HIV/AIDS throughout the South. The grant from Gilead Sciences will bring Wake Forest into Gilead’s 10-year, $100 million COMPASS Initiative…
We need to talk about abortion. The first time I remember knowing anything about the subject, I was probably in late elementary school and overheard my older cousins and sibling snickering about my grandmother’s concern about “all those aborkins” and…
Black History Month has its critics, but Chalice Overy isn’t one of them. Overy, associate pastor at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., said the focus on Black heroes and accomplishments every February growing up prepared her for being…
One hot topic — for the church and Americans — is that we as a nation continue to struggle with diversity. Increasingly, folks of all races are moving next door, entering families through marriage or adoption, and sitting next to…
Baylor University’s board of regents “accepted” a final report of its Commission on Historic Campus Representations Feb. 19 but will not release the findings to the public until the end of March. Lori Fogleman, university spokesperson, said the report will…
I recently read an article about an organization that provides background checks for churches. If a church wants to feel safe about those who volunteer to work with children or serve in a leadership position, it might be a good…
A federal lawsuit that combines questions of religious liberty, defamation and the meaning of Baptist autonomy has been appealed to the United States Supreme Court. The Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board, the defendant in the original 2017 case,…
My dad was a vibrant and healthy 67-year-old when he caught COVID-19 and died a few weeks before Christmas. It was an abrupt and jarring experience for my family. I was left heartbroken and enraged. I was angry at this…
Current and former refugees from Myanmar welcome the political pressure bearing down on the nation’s military since it staged a coup against a democratically elected government Feb. 1. But much more pressure is needed, they say. “I am very disturbed…
Three years ago, when I first started to write Hope in Disarray, the world was a very different place. It seems that the world back then was churning through time at rapid speed, unaware and untroubled by the destined forces…
Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Jonathan Balmer, to Mount Hermon Baptist Church, Moseley, Va., as pastor. He comes from Seventh & James Baptist…
