It may now seem surprising to many United Methodists, and even more Baptists, that for most of our histories in the United States, all Methodists and Baptists were regularly designated as evangelical denominations. The most important reason is that both...
In the days and verses after the Epiphany story, Herod goes on a campaign killing boys under the age of 2 in fear of losing his power. I imagine there were some in the region who could not believe that…
Baptist pastors and leaders took to social media Wednesday, Jan. 6, to express outrage and remorse and calls to prayer as supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol in an attempt to disrupt certification of Trump’s loss…
Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Tim Evans, to First Baptist Church, Ypsilanti, Mich., as pastor. Tara Gibbs, to Myers Park Baptist Church, Charlotte,…
For four years, more than half of Americans and most of the rest of the world have wondered where supporters of Donald Trump would draw the line, what would finally push his cult-like enablers to see through his mountain of…
The first time Americans elected a Catholic as president, Baptists were among those expressing alarm over possible violations of church-state separation. This year, with the imminent inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden as the nation’s second Catholic president, the landscape looks…
A two-week fundraising campaign in December exceeded the $500,000 Judson College needed to remain open this spring, officials at the all-women Baptist school have announced. The grassroots effort that included students and alumnae also got the Baptist school in Marion,…
A couple of decades ago I had the privilege of serving at a well-known Black church in Brooklyn. One day, some visiting German theologians, who were examining the Black church in America, asked our pastor if the God of the…
Today is the Day of Epiphany. It is the day the church sets aside to remember the journey of the magi to see the young child Jesus and his family as recorded in the second chapter of the Gospel of…
On Epiphany, which the worldwide church celebrates today, we should ask ourselves how we, the church, will rise and shine in these dark days of discouragement so that we will be a light to the world. The answer has to…
The Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists will mark a pivotal moment in its history this week with an online celebration of five congregations booted from their regional associations a quarter century ago. Four of the American Baptist Churches USA…
The day I walked out of church, I had just finished assisting our children’s church lesson about how God created the world in six literal days. God had put the first two humans in a garden with one rule, and…
At the dawn of 1955, civil rights leader and Black theologian Howard Thurman preached on the Apostle Paul’s moral struggle in the Letter to the Romans. Mid-letter, Paul confesses he desires to do right, but there is a war within…
