Dear Jimmy, I don’t know what the matter with me was last Sunday, but I just couldn’t seem to keep my mind on Brother Bobby’s sermon. It wasn’t that he was hard to listen to. No, in fact, he has…
EDITORIAL: Aunt Ida does what needs doin’
Dear Jimmy, My gracious sakes alive, I thought the snowflakes would never stop fallin’. The snow just kept blowin’ and driftin’ and gettin’ deeper and deeper! Why the drifts between the house and the barn got so high that I…
EDITORIAL: The truth shall make you … a rarity
I am ready for the gubernatorial election to be over! The televised ads produced by the McDonnell and Deeds campaign staffs and approved by the candidates themselves — if even their endorsements of their own ads can be believed —…
Women gather to pray, fast for public schools
Moms In Touch International is celebrating its 25th year of encouraging moms to pray for children and schools. What began as one mother’s heart-cry as her children went to public junior high school has expanded to include an estimated 175,000…
Coming in January: Ask the Architect
Beginning with our first issue in January, Richmond architect Jim DePasquale, AIA, will write a column called “Ask the Architect.” Jim DePasquale Virginia Baptist churches vary in many details of their styles and practices, but they almost universally have buildings….
Coming in January: Ask the Architect
Beginning with our first issue in January, Richmond architect Jim DePasquale, AIA, will write a column called “Ask the Architect.” Jim DePasquale Virginia Baptist churches vary in many details of their styles and practices, but they almost universally have buildings….
EDITORIAL: Think, pray, study, act: Virginia Baptists’ response to ABC privatization
If the new governor gets his way, Virginians will be buying their booze from privately-owned liquor stores rather than from the state-operated ABC stores we have currently. At least those Virginians who buy booze in the first place will be….
Camp Piankatank dedicates three new lodges to enhance retreat setting
HARTFIELD, Va. — Camp Piankatank celebrated the construction of three new lodges with a dedication service and open house on Nov 15. The new structures differ substantially from their predecessors in their larger sizes and in their increased functionality. Planners…
EDITORIAL: Times change
Times of economic stress create tensions in religious bodies. I remember so well my first full-time church located in a far western county of Virginia known commonly as Missouri. Our church gave 18 percent to the Cooperative Program and 4…
Storyteller Calvin Miller leads 2009 BGAV Pastors’ Conference
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Calvin Miller believes in stories. Writer in residence and research professor at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala., Miller points to Jesus’ narrative parables as proof of the power and potential of stories to be remembered and…
Bill Wilson pushes for congregational health in new position
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Former Virginia Baptist pastor Bill Wilson has assumed the presidency of the Center for Congregational Health, one of four ministries of the School of Pastoral Care at North Carolina Baptist Hospitals. Before moving to the CCH at…
EDITORIAL: Guns and good news
It comes as no surprise that there are many ways to share our faith. Recently, however, I witnessed two extremes. On Thursday of last week, I received an email containing a link to a Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary chapel service….