Growing up in Texas, summers were hot and unbearable. But there was one soul-refreshing snack my family enjoyed on hot Texas summer days — refrigerated watermelon. It was almost a revival experience we indulged in to beat the heat. Ironically,…
NAMB hires a Presbyterian Calvinist to lead urban church planting
In a Facebook post dated Jan. 10, pastor and author Doug Logan Jr. announced his new role as director of urban church planter development for the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board’s church planting initiative, the Send Network. BNG…
More Baptist leaders cite pattern of bullying from Ezell and NAMB
Bobby Gilstrap seemed to model what Southern Baptists would want in a denominational leader. Educated at two Southern Baptist Convention seminaries, he served as a pastor, then served 10 years as an associational director of missions in Michigan, where he…
What we’re learning since our homeless church moved in with a homeless shelter
One year ago, our new church was just starting to form and trying to flesh out our identity. We spent the first seven months “doing church” in a large classroom on the local university campus, where we focused on cultivating…
Tim Keller was a really nice guy, but that wasn’t enough for everyone
The one thing everyone who interacted with him seems to agree on is this: Tim Keller was a heckuva nice guy. So nice, some say, it’s hard to believe he was a conservative evangelical. So nice, others say, he caved…
John Onwuchekwa leaves Atlanta pastorate
A pastor who called out the Southern Baptist Convention for racism two years ago has stepped down from his Atlanta pastorate, saying his gifts for church starting do not translate to leading a larger congregation. John Onwuchekwa made headlines in…
We need more but different churches
The number of church closures continues to rise. According to a study published by Lifeway Research last May, about 4,500 churches closed their doors in 2019 while only 3,000 churches were started. This is a shift from 2014 when Lifeway…
Whatever happened to Southern Baptists and church autonomy?
Neither one of us had a clue what we were doing 12 years ago, but a friend and I started a church. We didn’t know anything about starting a church, but we knew a great deal about church. Between us,…
Acts 29 leader explains who they are, what they’re doing in church planting and where the money is coming from
When the Acts 29 Network recently announced it would offer up to $50,000 over two years to church planters, a common response among traditional pastors and lay leaders was, “What’s Acts 29?” And even among those who were aware of…