RIDGECREST, N.C. — A proposed solar energy project on the grounds of a Baptist conference center in western North Carolina will be considered at a public hearing Jan. 9 in Asheville, after the state’s utilities commission received complaints about the…
VITAL SIGNS: Christmas lessons
Our current Christmas celebration habits are a uniquely post-World War II phenomena. Much of the excess we experience stands at odds with the way Western society approached the holiday only a few years ago. This shift has lessons for any…
Spiritual wisdom in 140 characters or less
(RNS) — The Dalai Lama has 5,702,736 followers on Twitter. How many people does he follow? Zero. Pope Benedict XVI plans to start tweeting on Dec. 12. His Twitter handle is @Pontifex, which means “bridge builder” in Latin. Benedict hasn’t…
Megan Dibble, daughter of longtime youth ministry strategist Ken Dibble, died Nov. 30
ASHEVILLE — Megan Elizabeth Dibble, 30, daughter of longtime Virginia Baptist youth ministry strategist Ken Dibble and his wife, Sherlyn, died Nov. 30. Meghan Dibble A native of Charlotte, Dibble was a graduate of the Collegiate School in Richmond and…
At strategic time for China, CBFVA aims to ‘build bridge’ with growing Christian churches there
RICHMOND — The dramatic growth of Christian churches in China is drawing the attention of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia, which is aiming in its 20th anniversary year to “build a bridge” to the strategic nation and its millions…
Orrock named coordinator of Kairos Initiative, also will be Baptist collegiate minister in Richmond
RICHMOND — Richmond minister Welford Orrock has been tapped to serve as coordinator of the Kairos Initiative, a “revisioning” of collegiate ministry which the Virginia Baptist Mission Board hopes will dramatically expand Christian outreach among young adults in Virginia. Welford…
Church eyes apartment complex for expansion but ‘God had other ideas’ — including a clinic
GREENVILLE, N.C. — What started as part of Oakmont Baptist Church’s ministry to its next-door neighbors has grown into a free medical clinic that helps people from across North Carolina’s Pitt County. The church’s approach to missions was transformed after…
HERITAGE: The mystery of the porcelain cat
When this columnist visited First Baptist Church in Raleigh, he met Frances Ward Brooks, who pulled out of her pocketbook a small piece of blue and white china, a figurine of a porcelain cat. She remembered that in her childhood…
OPINION: How strong is the unity of the cross?
One of the things that I treasure most about being a Virginia Baptist is that we take the gospel more seriously than we take ourselves. We know that the Holy Spirit is more powerful than we are. This is why…
The sacred ran through jazz legend Dave Brubeck’s music
(RNS) — “I approached the composition as a prayer,” jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck said of his To Hope! A Celebration, a contemporary setting for the Roman Catholic Mass, “concentrating upon the phrases, trying to probe beneath the surface,…
Latino churches to say ‘Feliz Navidad’ 5,000 times among Spanish-speaking Virginians
ARLINGTON, Va. — Latino churches and institutions in Virginia are distributing 5,000 Christmas-themed CDs this month with an evangelistic message in Spanish — the culmination of a two-year project coordinated by the Latino Network of Virginia Baptists. “Un regalo para…
Life in the intertidal zone suggests the Christian journey, Creech tells D.C. convention
WASHINGTON — Life in the intertidal zone — the region above water at low tide and beneath it at high tide — is diverse, active and adapted to an environment of harsh extremes — an ideal metaphor for the Christian…