Do you want to die well? Do you want to die with dignity? I suspect that desire resides in the hearts of just about everyone. But, what does it really mean to die well? I’ll admit, at 32 and healthy,…
Sisters mourned husbands with different emotions, same Baptist faith
By Bill Webb It was one tragic event involving two siblings and two different reactions of grief, spirituality and faith. Sisters Heather Gilion and Holly Snell recently shared with Baptists in Missouri how the deaths of their husbands in a…
If spiritual gifts are from God, why do they make you uncomfortable?
Many years ago when walking down the hall in the building where I worked, I decided I would stop by Ken’s office and ask about him. It was discovered several months earlier that Ken had a growth behind one of…
Dallas Ebola patient Eric Duncan dies
By Bob Allen Dallas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, died Oct. 8, according to a statement from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. “It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death…
‘Nones’ increasingly uninterested in ministers at time of death, funerals
By Jeff Brumley There was a time when even the unchurched came to church for at least one occasion — their deaths. It was an era when nearly everyone, even those who rejected religion, had some connection to faith, however distant….
Saying goodbye
I conducted a memorial service recently for a friend who passed away after a lengthy illness. The service was a time of celebration among family and friends for a life well lived. Despite the lengthy illness of the deceased, she…
Chick-fil-A founder, Baptist layman, Truett Cathy dies
By Bob Allen Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy, a devout Southern Baptist layman known for building his business empire on principles of his Christian faith, died Sept. 8 at age 93. Cathy, who taught 13-year-old boys in Sunday school at…
Missing Gwen
By Pam Durso It has now been a year since that moment on Aug. 27, 2013, when I learned that Gwen had died. She was my friend. She was my pastor. She was my Panera Bread lunch date, my fellow…
Deaths of pastor, wife, ruled murder/suicide
By Bob Allen The deaths of a Baptist pastor and his wife discovered Aug. 20 by their granddaughter in the patio area of their home in Lumberton, N.C., have been ruled a murder-suicide. The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office released a…