We need to focus more on Sunday morning. We need to start a new worship service. We need to do more to get young people through our doors. These are the cries so often heard in the 21st century Baptist…
For this Baptist, ‘business as mission’ is calling
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP)—Some Christians live out their faith by ministering in churches, visiting prisoners or serving as missionaries. Jordan England does it by designing and selling furniture. “This is my calling,” said England, the 31-year-old owner and CEO of Industry…
LETTER: Praise for a mentor
I attended the annual meeting of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society on the evening of May 22. Nine days later Julian Pentecost died. The timing was somewhat providential for me because I was thinking about Dr. Pentecost on that May…
OUT LOUD
“Of course, Benny has always said that the ministry came first. Then he started to say that he was married to the ministry.” Suzanne Hinn The ex-wife of evangelist Benny Hinn was interviewed on the Christian Broadcast Network’s The 700…
Kingdom calling is not about a church’s institutional survival
Stewardship sermons often focus on finances. Even when preachers include stewardship of time and talents, emphasis on their use at church typically trumps application to the workplace or community. Amy Sherman wants church leaders to grasp a wider vision. “I…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Blessed are the church leaders who make peace in their own congregations, part 1
Most would agree that conflict in human relationships is inevitable, even normal. Managed, conflict can cause us to identify needed changes and creates energy enough to make them. It can be a catalyst causing growth. It can cause us to…
What does it mean to fulfill one’s calling in God’s kingdom?
Many Americans have a clearer idea what they will do on summer vacation than how they will fulfill any God-given sense of vocation. Some Christians see vocation as limited to a select few—mostly ministers and missionaries. Even those who see…
TRENDING: Movement thinking, part 1: Adaptive methods
A powerful and welcome trend today is the conversation about starting movements. Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, Seth Godin’s Tribes and Ori Brafman’s The Starfish and the Spider have electrified and mainstreamed this topic. A movement is an informal grouping…
HERITAGE: A life for missions
Helen Emery Falls personified missions. As the daughter of a pastor, she early learned the Christian message, but it was her mother who inspired her about missions. As a teenager she felt called to full-time Christian vocation. She spent the…
HeraldBeat
Transitions ON THE MOVE Michael Cheuk, to University Baptist Church, Charlottesville, Va., as senior pastor, effective in August. Michael Wyre, to Lynn Haven Baptist Church, Vinton, Va., as pastor. Alex C. Gallimore, to Hester Baptist Church, Oxford, N.C., as pastor….
EDITORIAL: Celebrating America
Can there be a better time than the days surrounding July 4th to contemplate the values and mysteries of being American? I realize that some object to the commandeering of the term “America” to apply only to the United States….
OPINION: O, Death
O, Death O, Death Won’t you spare me over til another year Well what is this that I can't see With ice cold hands takin’ hold of me Well I am death, none can excel I’ll open the door to…