By Greg Warner In past centuries, West Africans were forcibly exported as slaves to work in the New World and Europe. Today, that dangerous and desperate journey exists in a different form. During the slave trade of the 1700s and…
Pastor greeted with bombing on first day in N.M. church
By Jeff Brumley One of two churches bombed in Las Cruces, N.M., on Sunday included one with a brand new pastor from a Baptist congregation in Missouri. Kevin Glenn also is an expert and author on the subject of restoring…
Fewer people moving doesn’t mean more will come to church, ministers say
By Jeff Brumley New research suggests Americans are increasingly choosing to put down roots where they currently live, a finding that raises questions about church health. The recent Barna Group project said mobility has declined overall over many years. Most…
Baptists reflect on fellowship as ‘nones’ seek their own brand of community
By Jeff Brumley They may be leaving or avoiding organized religion in droves, but the nation’s “nones” are still craving community — otherwise known as fellowship — recent reports suggest. Known also as the religiously unaffiliated, this growing segment of the U.S….
Pinewood derby races connect children, faith in Slovakia
By Vicki Brown Students yelled as they jockeyed for positions around the racetrack and rooted for their cars as they shot down the track. Cheers followed each heat as winners beamed and losers tried to be gracious. And the pinewood…
Young adults challenging traditional church membership concepts
By Jeff Brumley The value and purpose of church membership is becoming an increasingly hot topic in Baptist and other congregations these days. And that’s “hot” as in controversial and heated, not popular. And it’s one that occasionally pits older…
CBF Virginia leader takes job with BTSR
By Bob Allen Rob Fox, field coordinator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia since 2009, is stepping down at the end of August to become vice president of institutional advancement at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. Fox, a BTSR…
Baptist churches learn that serving schools yields big rewards
By Vicki Brown and Jeff Brumley Serving Clark Elementary School helps the roughly 40 members of Woodlawn Avenue Baptist Church in Wichita, Kan., realize they have a purpose, a contribution to make to their community. For members at First Baptist…
Hispanic faith could revive the rest of the church, say speakers
By Jeff Brumley and Kalie Lowrie Hispanic Baptists and other Christians have so much to offer the American church and society that they must avoid the pitfalls of secularism and consumerism, Latino religious leaders say. That was part of the message…
Is CBF allergic to “contemporary” worship?
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), young adults, “contemporary” worship, progressive theology, and “nice” Christians—let’s talk about it. To begin, I guess you, as the reader, should know I’m a 27-year-old, white male in full time ministry, and some of my closest…
Chaplain: Military trains you to see ministry as God’s work, not yours
By Jeff Brumley Imagine spending three or four years in a place, building new ministries or reviving existing ones, only to be replaced by someone else and sent somewhere else to do it all over again. It’s a feeling that…
Cooperative Baptists challenged to build bridge over ‘gaping wound of racism’
By Aaron Weaver and Carrie McGuffin “Salvation is about healing and wholeness. Now our broken world could use some of that,” said Jim Somerville, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., as he addressed the topic of salvation…