Charging Millennials with rejecting church and being undisciplined givers doesn’t take into account the multitude of economic and social factors that characterize their lives.
‘Spiritual friendship’ sustains pastor, layman through vocational challenges
Greg Rogers has had mentors, ministerial support groups and an array of denominational colleagues to draw on during his long career in ministry. But most of the strength Rogers needed to weather the challenges of pastoring a church, at least in…
Interfaith partnerships, service to those in poverty and an ATM define Louisiana church
Charlene Kelley says her faith is deeper and stronger than it has ever been thanks to her church in Shreveport, La. But it’s not just the usual things, like Bible studies and worship, that have transformed her Christian experience.
Baptist churches should emulate Black Lives Matter movement, says advocate
A Black Lives Matter advocate fired a shot across the bow of Baptist churches, challenging them and other Christians to embrace Christ’s calling to care for society’s most oppressed. “The story of the church in recent years is that that…
Leadership for a “Denominetwork”
Women leaders. Diversity in worship. Babies in strollers and toddlers in arms. Faithful friends. New relationships. Creative initiatives. All of these are impressions that I brought back from the 2014 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Atlanta. The Fellowship continues to…
Spiritual formation: more than a buzz phrase
Two words combined to be a buzz phrase have appeared at different times and in different ways in Baptist life lately, especially at CBF General Assembly last month: Spiritual. Formation. The new Dawnings CBF initiative that offers a missional visioning…
Not budgets, programs, and projects
I am always amazed as I visit some of our smaller communities at the way God is at work through the congregations. Too often we tend to look at the numbers and the programs. We lose the story of the…
Reflections on CBF General Assembly
It’s no secret that I’ve been a friendly critic of the apparent lack of clear direction afflicting the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in recent years. A challenging column of mine published in another Baptist news journal last year elicited everything from…