I was cruising through the list of notification on the GoodReads web site when one caught my eye. “Hope is your friend.” Of course, it was a notification that someone named Hope and I had made a social media connection,…
Communion alternative for election strife
By Jeff Brumley Kevin Glenn has become quite the buzz in Columbia, Mo., the past couple of weeks for publicly promoting what he says has become a radical concept in American Christianity: That devotion belongs first to God and to…
Confessions of a sitting duck
By Amy Butler The expression “like sitting ducks” seems apropos for those of us on the East Coast last week. We knew for several days that a huge storm was headed our way, and so we waited, glued to news…
Baptists divided on Florida amendment
By Jeff Brumley Florida Amendment 8 has pitted secular civil rights and education activists against religious conservatives in a rhetorical battle over the meaning of religious liberty. But the measure also has re-exposed the divide between Baptists over the separation…
Communing with saints
By Molly T. Marshall Some of the excesses of Catholic spirituality — veneration of statues and feasts that celebrate primarily a European notion of sainthood (brave men and docile women) — have left our branch of the church unsure about…
NY, DC churches hunker down for Sandy
By Jeff Brumley Baptist churches and ministries in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast were hunkered down and anxious Oct. 29 to see what happens when Hurricane Sandy arrives. “There’s been a heightened sense of anxiety because we are sitting here waiting,” said Amy…
Experts: prayer a top need in tragedy
By Jeff Brumley A deadly, demoralizing bombing in Beirut on Oct. 19 prompted a Lebanese Baptist leader to issue a worldwide call for prayer – and prayer alone. The blast killed eight people, including a high-ranking government official, and wounded…
Between faith and fear
Many recent conversations I have shared with friends and colleagues have reminded me of an important choice we make as human beings, as followers of Jesus, and as ministers of the gospel. It is a choice that we are confronted…
Why the “nones” are leaving church, but not God
It should make any established American denomination panic: the dramatic increase in number of Americans leaving organized religion. In 2007, the percentage of the religious unaffiliated was around 15% and now that number is around 20% according to a new…