“You don’t know what Theotokos means? Get a book and read about it. You have a hard time standing for two hours? Do some sit-ups and get yourself into worship shape. It is the Lord our God we worship here,…
SECOND OPINION: A pan-Baptist council — why not?
In 1895, Religious Herald editor Robert H. Pitt was among the first to urge Baptists to unite in a world organization. He repeated the call in 1900, five years before the Baptist World Alliance was organized in London. Both editorials…
EDITORIAL: Aunt Ida joins the information age
Dear Jimmy, Why bless me, you’ll never believe what your ol’ uncle has gone and done now. We were sittin’ in front of the TV watchin’ the Braves game when one of those computers came on the commercial. Well, I…
HERITAGE: The roar of lions
By any measure, they are old lions. Henry Langford turned 90 earlier this year. Jim Fox and Elmer West are both 86 and counting. But they can still roar. As young lions they challenged the prevailing social order, risking their…
Bluefield College alumnus leads renovation effort
BLUEFIELD — Bluefield College prides itself on preparing innovative learners and transformational leaders to impact the world. The best measure of that vision and mission is the outcome of the school’s alumni. Alumnus Leroy Williams certainly fits the bill. This…
Baptists on mission in the 49th state
MECHANICSVILLE — Bodenburg Butte Baptist Church is located in Palmer, Alaska, a town approximately 45 miles from Anchorage and 4,700 miles from Virginia. Last month a 14-member mission team led by Don Carter, a member of Hillcrest Baptist Church in…
Bluefield College cottages renovated
BLUEFIELD — More than 100 members of Baptist churches from across Virginia and Tennessee spent part of their summer on the campus of Bluefield College. The Baptist missionaries with skills from carpentry to cooking worked five weeks in May and…
From the Eastern Shore to Cumberland Gap
STAFF CHANGES • Glenn Giles, to Enon Church, Roanoke, as pastor. • Joy Heaton, to Westhampton Church, Richmond, as senior pastor, effective Sept. 1. • Todd Cullop, resigning as co-pastor at Convergence at Fair Park, Alexandria. • John Carey, resigning…
The secret’s in the songs: Musical choice reveals congregation’s theological position
WACO, Texas — Terry York is willing to bet that if he goes into a Baptist church, sits down and listens, he can tell — long before the preacher speaks — whether the congregation is theologically conservative or moderate. The…
Faith that sings: Songs of faith pack theology into a case Christians can carry with them
“If you know what hymns a congregation is most addicted to, you will be able to infer what, in Christianity, means most to that church.” When the late hymnist Erik Routley wrote that in 1982, worship wars in the United…
‘Big Bucket Brigade’ ministers to Africans
RICHMOND — When you think of a “bucket brigade,” you likely picture buckets filled with water and a line of people. On July 12 there was a “Big Bucket Brigade” at Hatcher Memorial Baptist Church in Richmond, but the 23…
NEW BAPTIST COVENANT: Baptists challenged to overcome racial barriers
NORMAN, Okla. (ABP) — If they hope to represent Christ in the world, Baptists must find a "better way" of relating than the racism that has marred their witness for most of the past two centuries, participants in a multicultural…