By Jeff Brumley and Olivia Williams Two Waco, Texas, Baptist congregations learned firsthand this summer that vacation Bible school can be a catalyst for bringing down cultural and racial barriers in a community. That lesson puts them in the company of…
Ohio bull-riding leads to 300 baptisms — and prompts questions about church as entertainment
By Jeff Brumley Pastor Lawrence Bishop II generated about 300 baptisms and an internet sensation last week by riding — and getting bucked off — a large bull inside his jam-packed Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio, last week. The stunt by…
Bapticostals and Episcojewbus: Hybridity, unity and faith
By Jason Coker Identity is a tricky thing! Religious identity in particular can be a hard one to figure out. I grew up in the Mississippi Delta, which actually has quite a bit of racial, ethnic and religious diversity, but…
Be afraid, be very afraid
By Jason Coker A couple of weeks ago my whole family went to a “buy-in-bulk” store on a Saturday (never do this)! We live in a cold weather climate, so all the snow that has been collected in the parking…
Pastors wary as winter weather takes financial toll on nation’s churches
By Jeff Brumley With an ice storm blanketing Fort Worth, Texas, Senior Pastor Brent Beasley set out for Broadway Baptist Church to determine if services should be canceled the following morning. He found the sidewalks and parking lots covered by…
Who decides what it means to ‘be a man’?
By Jason Coker Only a couple of days after my firstborn child came into the world, I was in the hospital room with him when he did what all new babies do. So I carefully laid him on the changing…
A long journey home
This is the third of three posts by Jason Coker, written in the days before and after his father died on Jan. 27. The first post can be read here and the second here. Jan. 30, 2015 I got the…
Redeeming the goodbyes
This is the second of three posts by Jason Coker, written in the days before and after his father died on Jan. 27. The first post can be read here. Jan. 16, 2015 I didn’t realize that this phone call…
Inclusion reflex
By Jason Coker Last summer I was at a conference in Italy with people from all over the world, and there were a handful of us who became very good friends. We would eat together, sit together during the conference,…