By Bill Wilson I recently attended a national gathering of Baptists that was a stark reminder to me of the desperate need for congregational and clergy health. It wasn’t so much that this group is any less healthy or healthier…
The irony of it all
By Bill Leonard Like most everyone in the United States, I find myself struggling to sort out the events of the last few weeks — terrible tragedy in the massacre of nine African-American Methodists, “thunderbolt” Supreme Court decisions (President Obama’s…
Everyone had an opinion — except when they didn’t
By Amy Butler “Between stimulus and response, there is space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”— Viktor E. Frankl This past Friday I watched as my Facebook…
Non-traditional marriage: Defying the statistics
By Aileen Lawrimore The workers building a retaining wall at my house had only talked to my husband and hadn’t yet met me. That particular day, I’d been gone when they arrived and got back after they were hard at…
The spiritual practice of stacking stones
By Jayne Hugo Davis Truth be told, an altar was the last thing I expected to find at the end of a long hike. We were hot and sweaty, a bit worn out from the steep climb up the cliff…
If you are able
By Molly T. Marshall I attended Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo., this past Sunday. It is a historic African-American church, ably led by Dr. Wallace S. Hartsfield II, scholar of Hebrew Bible. It is a teaching church…
Some new metrics, please
By Doyle Sager An old Sunday school register hangs on the wall in my church office. Throughout my childhood, this is where my home church, Maple Grove Baptist, faithfully recorded important church metrics each Sunday: Number on the roll; attendance…
Disappointed with church
By Kyle Henderson My son was hired for a temporary job. It is a great job and great opportunity, but it will only last two months. He has been looking for a while, so we were excited. He had only…
MACBF’s ‘net’ widens to include a full- time coordinator
By Starlette McNeill Members of the Mid-Atlantic Cooperative Baptist Fellowship gathered at Seven Locks Baptist Church in Potomac, Md., for a meeting with Suzii Paynter, the executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. It began like any other meeting —…