Recently, I was part of a conversation with 10 pastors discussing discipleship. All agreed that their churches were producing exactly what they were engineered to produce: attenders. There’s nothing wrong with attending church. You just can’t say attending church automatically…
Potential first African-American president says SBC shouldn’t be defined by race
NEW ORLEANS (RNS)—The Southern Baptist Convention began in 1845 in support of slaveholders and is now poised to elect its first African-American president, Fred Luter Jr., in June. “It’s a new day in the [SBC],” Luter told the PBS program…
Taize experience spiritually enriching for thousands
CHICAGO (RNS)—Every year, some 100,000 pilgrims trek to the Taize ecumenical community in France where the biggest attraction is the music, a throwback—way, way back, about 1,500 years or so—to repetitive plainchant. Last month, for the first time, the Taize…
A new generation of snake-handling Christians is revitalizing a century-old faith tradition
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS)—Andrew Hamblin’s Facebook page is filled with snippets of his life. Making a late-night run to Taco Bell. Watching SpongeBob on the couch with his kids. Handling rattlesnakes in church. Hamblin, 21, pastor of Tabernacle Church of God…
Interreligious dialogue is nothing new, but ministers and others are changing the way they do it
Interfaith dialogue is on the rise, not just in formal conversations led by judicatory leaders but in local communities where friendships forge as ministers of various faiths work together for common goals amid increasing religious diversity in the Bible belt….
HeraldBeat
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Young leaders embrace Baptist identity of freedom
RICHMOND, Va. — Freedom. For six younger Baptist leaders that is the most compelling characteristic of Baptist identity. These two women and four men participated in a panel discussion organized by the Center for Baptist Heritage & Studies and held…
North Carolina network has eyes to see region’s poor
ROANOKE RAPIDS, N.C. — The demographics of Halifax County, N.C., are appalling. Unemployment is above 13 percent and one resident in four earns income below the poverty line. The county is part of the fourth poorest congressional district in the…
Former Herald editor Julian Pentecost dies at 88
RICHMOND, Va.—Julian H. Pentecost, editor of the Religious Herald during one of the most tumultuous periods of Baptist history in the American South, died May 31. He was 88. Pentecost was editor of the Herald in 1980s, a decade of…