I don’t know about you, but I view the daily headlines with a sort of fascinated dread. I can’t bear to watch and I can’t turn away. Every day, there’s more bad news for public education, undocumented immigrants and the…
IMB head urges collegians not to let fear get in the way of God’s call
A Southern Baptist Convention official told 2,000 college students at a gathering over Christmas break that indifference and fear about the global refugee crisis is closing doors to share the gospel. David Platt, president of the SBC International Mission Board,…
Sale of Baptist church benefits local charities
Three nonprofits in Pueblo, Colo., received an early Christmas gift from an American Baptist church that closed its doors in April after ministering in the community for nearly 150 years. Leaders of the American Baptist Churches of the Rocky Mountains…
Of presidents and popes: how we’re looking too high
I know a pastor who left a large, suburban church where he served for 25 years to plant a new church in one of the poorest areas of town. He joined with another non-profit and they formed a new LLC…
A new framework for thinking about church budgets
This is, hands down, the least favorite time of year for pastors everywhere: church budget planning season. Nobody likes budget planning, from the tedious work it entails to the way in which money necessarily informs the work of the church,…
What if church doesn’t matter?
Americans are a remarkably faithful people when it comes to spirituality, yet they are simultaneously, remarkably faithless when it comes to institutional religion. Why? This perplexity borders on cliché since it has been true for a number of years, but…
Baptists among religious groups facing severe limits under Russian laws
Missionaries and others who evangelize in Russia now face severe restrictions on those activities since President Vladimir Putin approved sweeping new anti-terrorism laws.
Separating mission and spiritual formation is bad strategy, say ministers
If he had a magic wand, Trey Lyon says he would likely transform the way churches conceive, fund and experience mission and spiritual formation. Basically, he would combine them. “I would love to see churches with ministers of mission and spiritual…
Christian engagement growing as Cuba-U.S. ties improve
The level and frequency of United States-based Christian activity in Cuba has been rising since the normalization process between the two countries began in late 2014. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Florida has been building on existing relationships with Baptists and…