Alliance offers Enneagram webinar
CBTS profs team up to write self-care book
Christmas tree fire that killed pastor’s wife inspires statewide compassion, giving
Churches from around the state are mobilizing to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of a North Carolina pastor whose wife died in a Christmas Eve fire. “People are rallying around this family and this church,” said Larry Hovis,…
Hurricane Matthew teaching churches a lesson on patience, flexibility
Hurricane Matthew is forcing churches from Florida to the Carolinas to practice flexibility. The folks at First Baptist Church in St. Simons Island, Ga., are an example of that. The congregation has been pushed to embrace the unknown since most…
Role of deacons changing as churches embrace missional focus
Just a few years ago, Eddie Hammett says, the subject of deacons in the free church tradition started coming up in much of the congregational consulting and coaching work he was doing. Many churches — and plenty of deacons — were doubting the effectiveness…
Apartments purchase propels church ‘from missional to incarnational,’ pastor says
By Jeff Brumley There’s a saying that if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans. The folks at Oakmont Baptist Church in Greenville, N.C., have experienced that principle firsthand. It all started when the Cooperative Baptist congregation…
On their own: The challenges, blessings of being sole pastors of small churches
By Jeff Brumley Being the sole pastor of small church isn’t for the faint of heart, Baptist ministers say. Sermon preparation, visiting the sick and balancing the budget can be even more nerve-racking when being performed by a minister serving…
Every refugee is a chance to live the gospel, ministers and missionaries say
By Leah Allen and Jeff Brumley Just under 70,000 refugees from around the world were legally resettled in the United States in 2014, bringing the total to 3 million in every state since 1975. And that, some ministers and domestic…
Pastors wary as winter weather takes financial toll on nation’s churches
By Jeff Brumley With an ice storm blanketing Fort Worth, Texas, Senior Pastor Brent Beasley set out for Broadway Baptist Church to determine if services should be canceled the following morning. He found the sidewalks and parking lots covered by…
Missionary couple brings international mission field to N.C.
By Jeff Brumley International mission work is taking on a whole different look — at least the way it’s being practiced by some Baptists in North Carolina. And yes, that means in North Carolina, not Uganda or Costa Rica or anywhere…