Whenever Brandon Hudson speaks publically about the doctrine of the incarnation, he does so cautiously. Growing up Baptist, leading youth and preaching have taught him to tread lightly around the topic of Jesus’ human nature. Why this — or any…
AA wrestles with its spiritual roots
BEVERLY, Mass. (RNS) — For Alcoholics Anonymous to continue helping addicts find freedom in sobriety, the 75-year-old organization has to reclaim its spiritual roots. That’s the message coming from reformers who say the group has drifted from core principles and…
Rising stress boosts clergy depression
Bryan Hatcher was a Baptist pastor once, so he gets it when ministers buckle under the strain of long work weeks, budget pressures and that feeling of constantly being in a fish bowl. And because he has since provided years…
Free at last, but what happens now?
Men just released from state prisons in Huntsville, Texas, arrived by bus in Fort Worth and gathered at the Tarrant County Probation Office. But before they re-entered the free world, they heard straight talk from someone who understood what they…
Friends say faith came first for Cliburn
FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — News reports of Van Cliburn’s Feb. 27 death extolled the internationally acclaimed pianist as one of history’s greatest classical musicians. Friends at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort, Worth, Texas, however, remember him as a great…
For Hollywood power couple, a labor of love
LOS ANGELES (RNS) — Before actress Roma Downey met her husband, her Touched by an Angel co-star Della Reese had a bit of advice. “Baby, you need to pray that God will choose a partner for you,” Downey recalled Reese…
Exhibit highlights blacks’ connection to Scripture
NEW YORK (RNS) — A new exhibit at New York’s Museum of Biblical Art makes one point clear and inescapable: Biblical narratives and imagery have been an underlining constant in the life of African-American Christians. From the days of slavery…
Aging pushes congregations to fiscal brink
Things were looking bleak for Orange Grove Baptist Church and its aging membership when Greg Shoemaker arrived as its pastor about a year ago. Located just north of Pascagoula, Miss., the congregation and community around it had been hit hard…
White smoke, black pope? The public likes the idea
(RNS) — Will the conclave electing a new pope next month have an “Obama moment” and pick someone from Africa or Latin America or Asia for the first time in modern history? The public seems enamored of the idea of…