By Jeff Brumley A Baptist congregation in Oklahoma has taken in an Muslim man who fled Afghanistan to escape Taliban retribution for interpreting for American forces. The folks at NorthHaven Church in Norman say their acceptance of the 31-year-old interpreter…
No magic bullet for church survival, Rick Warren and other Baptists say
By Jeff Brumley For years now, some agencies and experts who coach church planters and struggling congregations have tried to steer over-eager or desperate clients away from the quick fix of sizzling worship services or other gimmicks to draw big…
Vatican report a reminder evangelicalism has been hijacked
The media is abuzz with a newly published report from the Vatican regarding the inclusion of divorced Catholics, homosexuals, and those who use birth control. Traditionally, those groups of people inside and outside the Catholic Church are persona non grata of…
Pastor urges compassion for Ebola victim’s family
By Bob Allen Whatever the public thinks about the West African man who brought Ebola to the United States, a Baptist pastor who has been ministering to his family says people should remember that he caught the disease that killed…
Kentucky Baptist Convention poised to dismiss Crescent Hill
By Bob Allen A Kentucky Baptist Convention committee voted Oct. 9 to sever ties with Crescent Hill Baptist Church over the historic Louisville congregation’s welcoming and affirming stance toward gays. According to a news release, the decision by a credentials…
Great Commission and Great Commandment without synergy?
Do you remember where you were and what you were doing on the morning of September 11, 2001? I do too. That is a morning very difficult to forget. I was sitting in the lobby restaurant of a hotel in…
Name changes challenge churches on Baptist identity
By Jeff Brumley Over the weekend, Virginia Heights Baptist Church in Roanoke, Va., plunged headlong into a continuing, decades-long trend in American Christianity by dropping the denominational reference from its name. So when Nelson Harris showed up for work Monday…
Dallas Baptist church supports Ebola family
By Bob Allen People affected by the Ebola virus are not just potential carriers to be shunned and feared but persons of dignity and worth created in the image of God, said Sunday morning’s preacher at Wilshire Baptist Church in…
First U.S. Ebola case hits home for Baptist church in Dallas
By Bob Allen Dallas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan was coming to America to get married and start a new life with a woman baptized this summer as a member of Wilshire Baptist Church, the church’s pastor, George Mason, said…