Note: I don’t normally write things on this blog that are so narrowly focused (Virginia Baptist life to be exact), but this is incredibly important to me, and it is a prime example of how rural churches and female pastors…
Things forgotten: The unexpected experience of ‘coming home’
Written by Deborah Foulkes, Ph.D. During the summer of 2015, I had the opportunity to travel to Africa for the first time as part of Biblical Seminary’s Global Trauma Recovery Institute program. As the plane touched the Tarmac, I was…
Never give up … Royals style
During a walk with my family yesterday afternoon, my eyes glanced over toward a wooded spot along the trail. It’s a place where my gaze frequently lingered the past few months. Early in the summer, my three-year-old son found a…
7 reasons not to participate in Operation Christmas Child this year
Each and every year around this time, thousands of churches around the country participate in an organization called Operation Christmas Child. If you are unfamiliar with Operation Christmas Child, the gist is this: churches distribute pre-printed shoebox-sized cardboard boxes, which…
Louisville, Claypool and another gospel
A few weeks ago Albert Mohler, president of the Baptist Seminary in Louisville, compared his views with churches like Highland and Crescent Hill Baptist, as well as our many kindred churches across our city.
Why we need pastor-theologians for leading churches in mission
Anyone doing the work of planting churches will meet unpredictable cultural challenges. By definition, you are going into uncharted turf. You will have to listen, encounter new issues, interpret, translate and engage in ways you never would have to in…
Jesus medicine
For years I have had a small jar of Mentholatum beside my bed each night. Previously, I used Vicks VapoRub to ease nasal congestion and to help relieve more serious problems such as a sore throat or a nagging cough.
How a Baptist preacher learned about mass incarceration
These days, everybody seems to agree that mass incarceration–the policy of fighting crime by locking up as many people as possible for as long as possible–was a really bad idea. Charles and David Koch, Ted Cruz, and a steadily lengthening…