William H. Jenkins, for more than 30 years a staff member of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board, died Dec. 10. He was 85. At the time of his death, Jenkins was living in Arizona, where he had moved after retiring…
Virginia Baptists help feed the hungry through variety of worldwide programs
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization recently estimated that there are now 963 million hungry people worldwide. This number has increased by 40 million this year and is predicted to continue rising as the current global economic crisis plunges…
21-C will challenge Va. Baptists to take risks
RICHMOND — 21-C is Virginia Baptists' premier vision-casting, evangelism and leadership-equipping conference that provides a networking and learning opportunity for church staff and lay leaders to explore innovative ways of reaching people for Christ in the 21st century. The 2009…
EDITORIAL: Unto us a child is born
In some sense, I can relate to Mary the mother of Jesus. Luke records that after the birth of Jesus “Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). We can almost imagine the young physician,…
SECOND OPINION: The public ban on Christmas symbols
No trees adorned with twinkling lights will bless — or aggravate — visitors to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's two main libraries this year, according to a Dec. 5 story in the Raleigh News and Observer. After…
The church that wouldn’t give up
Robert Baylor Semple dipped his quill into an inkwell and wrote: “This church was stricken off from Hermitage ….” He was referring to Zoar Baptist Church; and in 1810 he devoted one long paragraph to the Middlesex County church in…
OUT LOUD
“I think the tradition is that they use all three names, and I will follow the tradition. I'm not trying to make a statement one way or another. I'll do what everybody else does.” Barack Obama The president-elect was telling…
FAITHSHAPERS: Teaching baptism (2)
So what is baptism really? Because of its importance in Baptist life, I fear that we sometimes overemphasize the role of baptism. Children tend to see things in somewhat mystical ways by their very nature, and symbolic rituals with deep,…
Global downturn necessitates increased U.S. anti-poverty efforts
WASHINGTON (ABP) — The global financial crisis makes it even more urgent that the United States not only take care of its own economy, but also redouble efforts to aid the world's poorest, according to a new report and several…