By Mark Wingfield Someone asked me why I included this phrase in my prayer at Wilshire Baptist Church’s worship service Sunday: “We pray that you would calm the anxious hearts of so many in our city. Help the ignorant to…
Remaining awake through a Pentecost
The author, who leads an intentional Christian community in Charlotte, N.C., attended the recent annual national conference of the Christian Community Development Association, a network of Christians committed to wholistic restoration for communities spiritually, emotionally, physically, economically and socially. This is…
Repentance is more than saying, ‘I’m sorry’
By Greg Jarrell The author, who leads an intentional Christian community in Charlotte, N.C., attended the recent annual national conference of the Christian Community Development Association, a network of Christians committed to wholistic restoration for communities spiritually, emotionally, physically, economically and…
Do you believe the Bible?
By Doyle Sager “Do you believe the Bible?” A simple, seemingly innocuous question, right? Not so fast. I was recently asked this question (out of the blue). When I inquired as to what had generated the question, the reply came…
How Hurricane Hugo broke a racial barrier
By George Bullard Twenty-five years ago Hurricane Hugo made landfall in the Charleston, S.C., area and brought significant destruction in almost two dozen counties. At that time I was working for Baptists in South Carolina and supervised the department that…
Weeping prophets, deep lament
By Greg Jarrell The author, who leads an intentional Christian community in Charlotte, N.C., attended the recent annual national conference of the Christian Community Development Association, a network of Christians committed to wholistic restoration for communities spiritually, emotionally, physically, economically…
The day I agreed with Satan
By Seth Vopat War rages with all its fogginess and once again we find ourselves in the United States questioning how we should respond. Will airstrikes alone be enough, or will we need ground forces? Ebola spreads throughout parts of…
‘We admitted we were powerless’
By Marion Aldridge You don’t have to get on an airplane or traverse an ocean to make discoveries. About 25 years ago, I began visiting church basements and other community rooms where, once or twice each week, men and women…
You can do something about declining Christian influence
By Marv Knox More and more U.S. Christians — particularly evangelicals — think they’re losing influence and feel embattled. They also say they want politicians to help rectify the situation. But maybe they should try to win their culture wars…
The commandment (most) Baptists break
By Doyle Sager The brilliant composer and musician Mozart once said, “I can tell a good musician by the way he plays the rests.” What an amazing insight. Mozart knew that the rests are what give the composition structure. The…
RG3, false persecution and Christianity
By Alan Rudnick There’s a big uproar over Robert Griffin III reversing his shirt inside out at a press conference. RG3′s shirt read, “Know Jesus Know Peace” or “No Jesus No Peace.” (Cool play on words there.) Over at Fox…
HIPPA and church prayer requests
By Mike Greer Sometimes church members mistakenly claim that HIPAA (the American Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) applies to church communications about the medical status of those listed or mentioned in church prayer meetings. HIPPA applies only to…