By Bob Allen Disability-rights advocates criticized President Obama’s plan to reduce gun violence by adding the names of 75,000 Americans who receive Social Security benefits with aid of a third party to the National Instant Criminal Background System. The American…
Phil Lineberger “Through a Glass Darkly”
When the phone rang in my hotel room in the middle of the night, I knew. I’d dreaded this call for weeks, begged God that it would never come. Becky, more than a thousand miles away, wept on the other…
SBC leader calls on churches to confront suicide
By Bob Allen Suicide is “a very serious and tragic reality” that every minister will encounter, Southern Baptist Convention leader Frank Page advised students at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in a recent chapel address. Page, president and CEO of…
Baptist leaders join plea to spare mentally ill man on death row
By Bob Allen More than 50 evangelical Christian leaders from Texas and across the country wrote an open letter Nov. 12 seeking clemency for a mentally ill inmate scheduled to die by lethal injection Dec. 3 in Texas. Faith leaders…
For youth ministers, a challenge dealing with mental illness in adolescents
By Terry Goodrich and Jeff Brumley Many mental health disorders first surface during adolescence, and college and youth pastors are in a good position to offer help or steer youths elsewhere to find it. But many of those pastors feel…
Responding with love to mental illness
One in four Americans annually experience mental health issues ranging in severity from temporary psychological distress to serious depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, yet less than one-third of these Americans receives appropriate care, often because of the stigma associated with…
As churches grapple with mental illness, ministers open up
By Jeff Brumley Robin Williams’ suicide in August sparked a wave of articles on mental health issues, including many gauging society’s knowledge and sensitivity toward persons with mental illnesses. Christian writers and media outlets pondered whether the modern church is…
Study: Seminaries do little to train pastor to help mentally ill congregants
By Terry Goodrich People struggling with mental illness often turn to pastors for help, but seminaries do very little to train ministers in how to recognize serious psychological distress and when to refer someone to a doctor or psychologist, according…
Baptist leader urges better police training about how to interact with mentally ill
By Bob Allen Better police training about how to interact with people with mental health conditions and developmental disabilities can prevent needless tragedy, an American Baptist official told a Senate panel April 29. “Recent high-profile tragedies demonstrate the need for…
Churches must face depression
By Dwight Duhon One of the most compelling issues facing the church today is depression. Christians are not immune to the economic, social and countless other factors that can lead to depression, but depression among believers is not a recent…
SBC messengers learn to get along
By Jeff Brumley Southern Baptists experienced little antagonism during their annual convention in Houston this week – a phenomenon that surprised some and delighted most SBC officials and messengers. There were plenty of opportunities for controversy. Debates ensued – but…
SBC pastor preaches mental health
By Jeff Brumley Compared to Southern Baptist Convention resolutions on the Boy Scouts and protection of children from sex predators, the one urging churches to develop intentional, compassionate ministries for the mentally ill got scant attention from local and national…