By Russ Dilday Under a warm sun, Lluvia Citlalli Hernandez Aguilar, the sole Buckner social worker for the Chiapas state of Mexico, makes her way down the steep gravel and rock road that descends into the Tuxtla-Gutierrez neighborhood known as…
American adopts ‘son,’ 21, during Africa mission trip
By Emily Turner Amie Singleton never expected God to give her a 21-year-old “son” during a 2012 mission trip to Rwanda and Uganda with an international nonprofit that connects Americans to orphanages in Africa. While Singleton, who works at Our…
Homeless items stolen from church
By Bob Allen A trailer full of clothes and blankets for the homeless has been stolen from a Southern Baptist church in Louisville, Ky. The trailer, used for the Helping Hands Ministry of Valley View Church in southern Jefferson County,…
Fighting poverty about more than serving meals, advocates say
Lauren Sturdy and Jeff Brumley Imagine standing on a riverbank looking up at a roaring waterfall, watching as person after person washes over the edge, plunges into the water and drowns. A caring person has two options — pull them…
The biblical reality of refugees
By Alan Rudnick As terrorist attacks impacted cities around the world like Paris and Beirut, we have learned that some of the terrorists falsely used refugee status to cross borders. As refugees continue to leave Syria in massive numbers, Republican…
The neighbor in me
By Nell Green They are all around us. They come from places other than the United States. They talk differently. They dress differently. They eat differently. They go to school with our children. They are our doctors and nurses. They…
If your congregation is not already affiliated with a denomination, why would it?
By George Bullard Recently a long-term ministry acquaintance contacted me for advice about his congregation. He had retired from his religious publishing position and moved to the other side of the country. During his life he had been a member…
Seeing where God is at work in South Africa, Baptists from U.S. join in
By Aaron Weaver April 27, 1994. That’s the date that South Africa held its first democratic election, forming a multi-racial coalition government and officially doing away with the country’s brutal, five-decade long system of racial segregation and oppression. Nelson Mandela…
7 reasons not to participate in Operation Christmas Child this year
Each and every year around this time, thousands of churches around the country participate in an organization called Operation Christmas Child. If you are unfamiliar with Operation Christmas Child, the gist is this: churches distribute pre-printed shoebox-sized cardboard boxes, which…