I was once on staff at a small church in the Houston area. We had less than 150 people weekly, but our property situated on a busy road where nearly 30,000 cars a day passed us by. One might think…
Missionary couple brings international mission field to N.C.
By Jeff Brumley International mission work is taking on a whole different look — at least the way it’s being practiced by some Baptists in North Carolina. And yes, that means in North Carolina, not Uganda or Costa Rica or anywhere…
Church workers need a new target other than numbers
Life requires replication. If something does not replicate, its kind will not continue on-just ask that Shaker you know. A 1000 person church is impressive. A church of 100 folks that over the course of 40 years empowers and sends…
A church reborn
On a Thursday afternoon in a poor, run-down section of Durham, N.C., the parking lot outside Shepherd’s House United Methodist Church is full. On the second and third floor of the neo-Gothic brick building, the floorboards creak as employees and…
Let’s share this mess
It doesn’t happen every day, but sometimes I buckle down and cook dinner for my husband and three teenagers. It’s a lot of effort, but it’s almost always worth it and, at least the way I cook, it always makes…
Property sale positions Atlanta church to engage its vibrant neighborhood
By Jeff Brumley Mimi Walker, pastor at Druid Hills Baptist Church in Atlanta, says she never took a course on real estate negotiating while in seminary. In fact, she doesn’t know of any seminaries that offer one. “But I think…
Church will gift its property to become ‘ministry incubator’
By Jeff Brumley Challenged by financial and membership declines, some congregations choose merger and some become satellite campuses while others sell to developers or simply close the doors and turn off the lights. Hillcrest Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala., chose…
Ministers staying in the game
Baptist chaplains wage offensive for military care
By Vicki Brown and Jeff Brumley American military personnel and their families have gone all-out during more than 10 years of continuous war, enduring unprecedented spikes in the tempo and duration of deployments. That’s why it takes an equally all-out…
Baptist leaders eye hopes, fears for church in 2015
By Jeff Brumley Some congregational coaches hope to see a return to Christ-centered values in the American church, while some Baptist scholars are eager for Christians in the United States to hear and feel the pain suffered by persecuted counterparts…
Baptist leaders eye hopes, dreams for church in 2015
Christmas mission brings food and Christ to hungry on the border
By George Henson Baptist churches and ministries recently joined forces to provide food and Christmas spirit to impoverished families along the U.S.-Mexico border. Their goal: to prevent as much hunger and despair as possible among the region’s adults and children…