Historians, academics and authors Beth Allison Barr and Kristin Kobes Du Mez discussed the challenges and rewards of being Christian women in a male-oriented world and profession during a wide-ranging discussion at Baylor University Feb. 16. Barr, the James Vardaman…
Blessed by life’s diversions
This is the sixth in a November series produced by BNG on what it means to be “blessed,” a word so flippantly used that it often loses meaning. My life has been marked by a series of diversions that, looking…
Baylor’s Black Gospel Archive and Listening Center now open to the public
Black Gospel music is a foundational ingredient in every popular music genre in America, and with the opening last week of Baylor University’s Black Gospel Archive and Listening Center, music that has long been accessible only to music scholars and…
The church has a role to play in implementing COVID vaccine
With a vaccine for COVID-19 presumably coming sooner than later, the question of who will and who won’t choose to get the vaccine is looming large. And along with that are questions about the role of the church on matters…
Compassion International and Baylor form partnership against poverty
Ending poverty among children and their families is the goal of a new partnership between Baylor University and Compassion International. The effort will pair Baylor’s educational expertise with Compassion’s historic mission to address persistent family poverty and bring about global…
Award-winning TV journalist returns to thank Houston church for its friendship
When broadcast journalist Deanna Dewberry gave her testimony to a Bible study class at Houston’s South Main Baptist Church, it was the continuation of an ongoing story of friendship and faith that spans the years and the miles. Dewberry, a…
Majority of churches plan flat budgets for 2021, large survey finds
Fall is a traditional season for budget planning in many churches and denominations, with stewardship drives often following into the holidays, but COVID-19 has flattened expectations and heightened uncertainty, according to a new survey conducted by the Lake Institute on…
Pandemic opens the door to a far-flung notion of church membership
There’s nothing new about people attending church in their living rooms and kitchens. Since the earliest days of television, there has been a symbiotic relationship between preachers and viewers. But what once was a sometimes-dubious bond — with televangelists offering…
New podcast illuminates crisis in the Catholic Church
Revelations in the summer of 2018 that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a high-ranking and well-known cleric in the U.S. Catholic Church, had abused minors and seminarians throughout his career ignited a firestorm of turmoil. A grand jury report that same summer…