Men just released from state prisons in Huntsville, Texas, arrived by bus in Fort Worth and gathered at the Tarrant County Probation Office. But before they re-entered the free world, they heard straight talk from someone who understood what they…
Friends say faith came first for internationally-acclaimed pianist Van Cliburn
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — News reports of Van Cliburn’s Feb. 27 death extolled the internationally acclaimed pianist as one of history’s greatest classical musicians. Friends at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort, Worth, Texas, however, remember him as a great…
Exhibit of biblical imagery highlights blacks’ connection to Scripture
NEW YORK (RNS) — A new exhibit at New York’s Museum of Biblical Art makes one point clear and inescapable: Biblical narratives and imagery have been an underlining constant in the life of African-American Christians. From the days of slavery…
For Hollywood couple, ‘The Bible’ miniseries is a ‘labor of love’
LOS ANGELES (RNS) — Before actress Roma Downey met her husband, her Touched by an Angel co-star Della Reese had a bit of advice. “Baby, you need to pray that God will choose a partner for you,” Downey recalled Reese…
Some aging churches are mergering with younger, multi-cultural congregations in order to stay alive
Things were looking bleak for Orange Grove Baptist Church and its aging membership when Greg Shoemaker arrived as its pastor about a year ago. Located just north of Pascagoula, Miss., the congregation and community around it had been hit hard…
The gospel roots of the ‘Godmother of rock ‘n’ roll’
(RNS) — Before Elvis and Chuck Berry and Johnny Cash. Before Aretha and Whitney and Beyonce. Before the blues met gospel and conceived rock ‘n’ roll, there was Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The first gospel superstar, Tharpe was a guitar hero…
Lent offers opportunity for Christians to reflect on living simply as witness to gospel
Since at least the middle of the 19th century, when Henry Thoreau described his solitary two years in a hut on the shores of Walden Pond, the allure of the simple life has animated the imagination of generations of Americans…
Is God the missing character in ‘Downton Abbey’? The question puzzles some fans
(RNS) — The third season of the megahit PBS series Downton Abbey wraps up on Feb. 17, capping another must-see run of ruin and redemption at Lord Grantham’s stately English manor. Yet some are still left puzzled over the absence…
Celebrities recall brushes with Graham in ‘Billy & Me’
(RNS) — Evangelist Billy Graham has rubbed elbows with celebrities ranging from presidents to journalists to musicians. In Billy Graham & Me, a new book in the “Chicken Soup for the Soul’’ franchise that was released Feb. 12, 101 people…
Study says faith, science not at odds
(ABP) — An MIT study published Feb. 12 in honor of naturalist Charles Darwin’s 204th birthday suggests the gap between faith and scientific beliefs is not as large as most people think, and that part of the controversy might be…
Baptism ages are dropping in churches which practice believer’s baptism, say observers
(ABP) — Something just clicked for Charity Roberson when she knew it was time for her to be baptized. Roberson, now pastor at Sharon Baptist Church in Smithfield, N.C., was 9 at the time. Some of the memories are vivid….
Baptist church sign draws attention of Manhattan pedestrians, media
(ABP) — “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.” Thus read the sign recently in front of Madison Avenue Baptist Church, a New York City congregation whose pastor is all about convincing folks not…