For the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has issued a call for volunteers to assist with disaster recovery efforts. The Sept. 16 invitation asks for teams to help Lake Charles, La. recover from damage caused…
Alliance offers online watercolor series with reflections on racial injustice
Kathy Manis Findley made a career pursuing justice as a Baptist minister, and she is up to it again with a virtual watercolor exhibit offered as both a clarion call and lament for racial inequity in a time of pestilence….
Most church records oddly silent on 1918 pandemic
The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 was deadly but not altogether noteworthy to many Baptists, historians say. In fact, those who earn a living combing through denominational newspaper archives and associational records say they are astonished how little attention churches,…
BNG panelists offer diagnosis and prescriptions for mental health during pandemic
Inflamed racial tensions, a divisive election season and alarming climate events — all during a pandemic — have stretched American psychological well-being to the limit. But there also are some potential spiritual positives from the coronavirus era, according to five…
Survey says: When parents reduce church attendance, so do their teens
Most American teens share the religious identity of their parents, and many attend services as often as the adults in their lives, according to a new survey. The Pew Research Center study reported that 81% of Catholic teens adhere to…
Here’s practical help for mental health during the pandemic
It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in psychology to determine that months of social and political strife combined with a deadly pandemic have negatively impacted mental health nationwide. In fact, it takes only a brief Google search to learn that just…
Baylor engineering students hope to design aid for notable alumna
A group of Baylor University engineering students is working to design a medical device for Allison Dickson, a Temple, Texas, resident with a rare and progressive form of muscular dystrophy. Dickson, 40, who uses an electric wheelchair she nicknamed the…
Collaborative plan emerging for Hurricane Laura relief work
Collaboration between two Baptist organizations has resulted in a plan for long-term disaster recovery work in Lake Charles, La., the coastal community devastated by Hurricane Laura Aug. 27. Leaders with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and National Baptist Convention of America…
Program connects rural pastors for fellowship and education
A group of rural ministers is nearing completion of a fellowship designed to widen their perspectives on faith, church and their own ministries. “It caused me to take a hard look at myself,” Leonard Edloe said of the Fellowship for…