KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Baptists must continue to engage Muslims around the world in hopes of promoting “peaceful living together,” a Baptist World Alliance commission concluded July 6. Developing a process by which Christians and Muslims can address and resolve…
Refugees on Myanmar-Thai border joyful despite persecution, says group
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Blooming Night is a Myanmar refugee living just across the Thai border who has spent most of her 50-something years hiding in the jungle. But when she isn’t in actual hiding, she is bringing relief to…
EDITORIAL: Aunt Ida discovers the need for pastoral care
Dear Jimmy, While your uncle is outside fumin’ about the garden, I’ll take a few minutes to bring you up to date about what’s been goin’ on around our place. First, it appears that sometime before sun-up, that the big…
EDITORIAL: Positive signs in SBC leadership?
If you didn’t realize the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting was being held last week in Phoenix, you were not alone. For the first time since 1944, fewer than 5,000 messengers registered for the two-day conference. Only 4,780 had registered…
Demographics innovator and strategic planning pioneer dies at 87
RICHMOND, Va. — Phillip E. Rodgerson, long-time director of missions and evangelism for the Virginia Baptist Mission Board, died Friday morning, June 10, just two weeks shy of his 88th birthday. A native of Norfolk, Va., Rodgerson earned bachelor of divinity,…
EDITORIAL: Where arts and history converge
Never one to pass on an opportunity to mix business with pleasure, while traveling in Germany recently I visited the German village of Schwäbisch Hall. A quintessential German mountain town nearly 875 years old, it features narrow, winding cobblestone streets…
EDITORIAL: The awful truth of an awful place
From the soaring heights of the Bavarian alps, we visited Neuschwanstein castle’s classical beauty. Our travels then took us to the Concentration Camp Memorial at Dachau on Sunday, May 22. Since the International Baptist Church’s English service was scheduled to…
EDITORIAL: Where arts and history converge
Vacations are wonderful! This week I have been traveling with my uncle (not Orley) through the Black Forest and Bavarian regions of Germany. Uncle Raymond and his wife, Irene, lived in Schwabisch-Gmund while he was stationed there in the army…
Church leaders focus on untapped ‘Power of One’ at annual gathering
LYNCHBURG, Va. — Deacons, pastors and other church leaders trekked up the mountain for the annual Leadership Gathering at Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference Center, May 6-8. Nearly five hundred strong, they celebrated the theme, “Energy: The Power of One” taken…