Churches from around the state are mobilizing to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of a North Carolina pastor whose wife died in a Christmas Eve fire. “People are rallying around this family and this church,” said Larry Hovis,…
Hurricane Matthew teaching churches a lesson on patience, flexibility
Hurricane Matthew is forcing churches from Florida to the Carolinas to practice flexibility. The folks at First Baptist Church in St. Simons Island, Ga., are an example of that. The congregation has been pushed to embrace the unknown since most…
Role of deacons changing as churches embrace missional focus
Just a few years ago, Eddie Hammett says, the subject of deacons in the free church tradition started coming up in much of the congregational consulting and coaching work he was doing. Many churches — and plenty of deacons — were doubting the effectiveness…
Pastors wary as winter weather takes financial toll on nation’s churches
By Jeff Brumley With an ice storm blanketing Fort Worth, Texas, Senior Pastor Brent Beasley set out for Broadway Baptist Church to determine if services should be canceled the following morning. He found the sidewalks and parking lots covered by…
OPINION: Shift happens (or it should)
Most of us in North Carolina realize that a significant shift has been taking place in recent years, a shift in the relationship between the church and the culture. Earlier in my life and ministry, the church sat at the…
OPINION: Short-term missions should not undermine field personnel
At the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina General Assembly in March, we collected a mission offering designated for the newly formed Haiti Housing Network. CBF is one of the principal partners in this network, which has the ambitious goal…
CBF, partners focus on future in retreat
PINE MOUNTAIN, Ga. (ABP) – Chief executives of more than 20 organizations affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship joined CBF national and state leaders and other invitees April 27-29 at a retreat center in southwest Georgia to imagine a future…