Note: This article discusses attempted suicide, suicidal ideation and gun violence. In the life of a school shooter, what happens almost 20 years after the crime? On Feb. 9, 2004, 16-year-old Jon Romano left a suicide note at home before…
Fellowship Southwest’s first conference calls for advocacy and action
Identifying needs and strategies for advocacy and action was the focus of Fellowship Southwest’s first Compassion and Justice Conference in Dallas last week. Convened at Life in Deep Ellum, a church and community center on the eastern fringe of downtown…
Awareness should lead to action, author urges churches
Delving into the nitty gritty of faith-based community development and restorative justice work is neither a political expression nor a ministry distraction for the church, author and activist Michelle Ferrigno Warren said. They are instead forms of biblically informed Christian…
By word and deed, Pimentel urges CBF participants to “stand up” for migrants
Christians must stand up and stand for some of the world’s most vulnerable people — refugees at the United States’ southern border — Sister Norma Pimentel told participants at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Encourager Church and Advocacy breakfast June 30…
Advocacy involves a range of issues, shares a core faith, CBF panelists say
The range of advocacy is as varied as the people who need others to speak on their behalf, but it is grounded in a sense of calling, a panel of advocates said during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly in…
Practicing advocacy from the pulpit can be a ‘fiery furnace’ experience, panelists tell CBF
Practicing advocacy in the pulpit can be like walking through a “fiery furnace,” five pastors noted during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Atlanta June 29. Cheryl Moore Adamson of Palmetto Missionary Baptist Church in Conway, S.C.; Jesús Garcia…
Advocacy’s power flows from grassroots movements, Tyler and Henderson tell CBF
The power of advocacy for just causes is grassroots — it grows from the ground up, a pair of nonprofit leaders stressed during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Atlanta June 30. Cassandra Henderson, executive director of the Interfaith…
CBF will hire two full-time staff in advocacy
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship intends to double its efforts on advocacy. For the first time, CBF plans to hire two full-time staff members working in this area, one as director of advocacy and one as congregational advocacy manager. Advocacy work…
How we make a difference: Bit by bit, day by day
Not to name names, but someone with my same initials who lives at my house decided having three yards of compost delivered yesterday was a good idea. Undoubtedly, my veggies, herbs and flowers will appreciate this black gold. Unfortunately, it…
United Methodists protest anti-trans bills in state legislatures out of faith convictions
Amid this spring’s wave of anti-transgender bills in state legislatures, United Methodists across the United States are actively advocating on behalf of transgender children and youth. For some of them like Debbie Mallis of Boise, Idaho, and Heather Gee-Thomas of…
40 Congressmen urge IRS to reconsider classification of Family Research Council as a ‘church’
Congressional Democrats are challenging the Internal Revenue Service’s recent ruling that the Family Research Council — a far-right advocacy group labeled a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center — may be classified as a “church” and therefore not…
Another reminder why Christians must become advocates for vulnerable children
Caring for the well-being of the most vulnerable children among us should be an easy decision for people of faith. The church already knows the importance of its sacred calling to care for children, taking seriously the stark biblical warning…