Willie Roy and Jennie Bell King helped build their new home in Marion through Sowing Seeds of Hope’s self-help housing initiative. They speak and sing in this video about their experience.
Dear Church, don’t give up on justice yet
Justice is a tool for working out God’s care and showing that God is “with us” as a way of entering into the real, physical circumstances of those who hurt, not just a concept abused by the culture wars.
For clergy and churches, repeal of health law poses serious consequences
Like most Americans, ministers and their families are facing exploding health-care costs. And for many clergy, the resulting frustration and stress comes on top of the long hours and low pay associated with their callings. Throw in the rising suspense…
What I learned when Missouri prosecuted Baptist clergy
I don’t know what you were doing the week of Aug. 15, but I had a ring-side seat, watching a bit of local history right before my eyes. The Medicaid 23 trial took place just a block from my church…
Going to bat — the only way humans thrive
I can’t think of many times in my life when I have felt as if no one would go to bat for me. In fact, whenever I tell the story of how I came to faith and later discerned a…
Once among the healthiest of professions, clergy seeing spike in obesity
By Terry Goodrich More than a third of American clergy members are obese, with stress, longer hours, low pay and lack of self-care among the culprits, a Baylor University study has found. But the profession has some built-in prevention methods…
Study: Youth experiment less with alcohol, drugs when plugged into church
By Jeff Brumley and Terry Goodrich Young people are less likely to try alcohol and drugs if they attend religious services regularly and self-identify as religious, a new Baylor University study has found. The study suggests that youth who feel…
Sociologist: Concept of God impacts power of prayer, anxiety-related disorders
By Terry Goodrich Prayer seems to be more effective at combating psychological challenges for some than for others, a Baylor University sociologist has found. The type of attachment a praying individual feels toward God seems to matter most in easing…
Lessons before dying: Reflections from the bedside
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee In a spring in my life filled with illness, dying and death, here are a few hard lessons I have learned. To borrow from novelist Ernest Gaines, let’s call them “lessons before dying.” Perhaps…