ACCRA, Ghana—Like the other regions represented in the Baptist World Alliance, the North American Baptist Fellowship met July 4 in Ghana as part of the BWA annual gathering. The Fellowship, headed by its executive director Alan Stanford, is a network…
EDITORIAL: The new slave trade
If I had ever learned of the Cape Coast Castle and Dungeon on what was then called the Gold Coast of Africa, I didn't remember it long after the exam. So when I arrived at the castle with 10 busloads…
Cries of anguish: BWA leaders worship at slave fort
ACCRA, Ghana—Cape Coast Castle. It sounds like an attraction at Disney World. But for the millions of African slaves who were processed and imprisoned within its walls, there was nothing attractive about it. The suffering of mind and body was…
EDITORIAL: SBC reflections
As I returned home from the Southern Baptist Convention, I brought with me three overriding perceptions. First, I was shocked that only 8,618 messengers gathered for the Southern Baptist Convention—and that only 331 Virginians from both the BGAV and the…
SPECIAL REPORT: Broken Trust—ANALYSIS: What to do if a minister is accused of sexual misconduct
Most pastors and staff members are aware that ministry sometimes puts them in unique circumstances with all kinds of people. Most also are aware that a rumor of wrongdoing often is enough to end an otherwise fruitful ministry. For this…
EDITORIAL: Sounds like competition to me
In the current issue of SBC Life, former Southern Baptist Convention president Bobby Welch explained what he will be doing as the SBC's new “strategist for global evangelical relations.” According to Welch, his responsibilities will be “to establish enhanced international…
Deployed
CHARLOTTESVILLE–Joel Jenkins, pastor of First Baptist Church of Charlottesville, temporarily changed congregations last year—and the relocation was extreme. Jenkins, a longtime Army Reserve chaplain, was called to active duty in Iraq last June with barely a week's notice. For the…
What can churches do?
The war on terrorism is very much like other wars; and it is very different from other wars. Like all wars before it, people die and are wounded in body and mind. Like no war before it in our nation's…
EDITORIAL: An army waging war against itself
Universal Press Syndicate released the following story. The headline reads “Holiest site becoming one of the stinkiest.” The story follows. “Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre most recently made News of the Weird in 2004 because of continued petty territorial…