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…
Circle of life: Denominational innovation may be wave of future
By Jeff Brumley The fact state and national religious bodies are undergoing significant changes — or at least need to change — hardly makes headlines anymore. But the changes already occurring give hints about where the development of religious organizations…
Debate: what (if anything) to do about choir decline
By Jeff Brumley Recent news that the church choir is in rapid decline troubled a number of Baptists, a number of whom took to Facebook recently to post evidence that choral music has – or at least should have – a…
Baptists pushing hospitality beyond comfort zones — and discovering deeper spirituality
By Jeff Brumley Hospitality to a lot of Christians means taking a meal to a sick church friend or inviting neighbors over for a barbecue on Memorial Day. But neither of those meanings come even close to the spiritual practice…
Churches, CBF respond to NC collegiate ministry shifts
By Jeff Brumley Cooperative Baptist congregations in Western North Carolina and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina are expanding their influence on college campuses just as huge financial and cultural shifts make campus ministries one of the riskiest and…