I thought if I arrived for worship about 20 minutes before the service was scheduled to start I would be there in plenty of time. I was wrong. Even though Enon Tabernacle, which can be found at www.enontab.org, has a…
North American Baptists ask, what will we look like in 50 years?
By Robert Dilday The North American Baptist Fellowship marked its 50th anniversary March 6-7 with a nod to the past while focusing on what the group’s general secretary called one of its greatest challenges — finding a mission and vision…
Baptist groups at forefront of ecumenical disaster relief
By Jeff Brumley In an age of declining respect for churches and an overall disinterest in religion, sometimes it takes a tornado or earthquake to show the world that Baptists and other Christians can, in fact, do something right. That…
Choose ye this day diversity
A strong, natural, cultural tendency among humankind—even those committed to loving all people—is to be in community with those considered to be “our kind of people”. The tendency is to swarm with people with whom there is the least diversity…
NABF peers into Baptist future
By Jeff Brumley The North American Baptist Fellowship will focus on the future, not the past, when it celebrates its 50th anniversary next spring. So the organization is now turning to Baptists across the board for help in discerning what…
NABF retools disaster response
By Jeff Brumley Members of the North American Baptist Fellowship’s Disaster Response Network, meeting in Texas this week, decided on a leadership structure they hope will provide greater continuity and flexibility to the group’s operations. The group also agreed its…
Doctrinal disputes disappear in disaster
Jeff Brumley The capital “C” Church is on display in West, Texas, as Churches of Christ, Methodists, Mennonites and Baptists join together to help the Central Texas city recover from the April fertilizer plant explosion. Doctrinal controversies such as grace-vs.-works or whether the Bible is inerrant take a…
What kind of Baptist are you?
Do you know the story that periodically makes the rounds about the guy standing on the edge of a bridge ready to jump off to commit suicide? Along comes another person who engages him in conversation trying to get him…
NABF retools disaster-relief network
By Jeff Brumley The stream of volunteers coming through La Place, La., these days ebbs and flows, says Reid Doster, coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Louisiana. A large group of Stetson University students is currently rehabbing some of…
Sandy overshadows Isaac response
By Jeff Brumley Knoxvillian Kendall McCosh spent the better part of last week providing disaster relief — not in the Sandy-plagued Northeast but in Louisiana, rehabbing homes ravaged by winds and flooding from Hurricane Isaac on Aug. 29. McCosh, a former…
The confusion of ‘most’ or ‘many’ — even among Baptists
Recently I began reading a book I was sent to review. It is by two people I know well; one of them more than the other. The one I know better is often given to over-statement and over-generalization. I found…
NY, DC churches hunker down for Sandy
By Jeff Brumley Baptist churches and ministries in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast were hunkered down and anxious Oct. 29 to see what happens when Hurricane Sandy arrives. “There’s been a heightened sense of anxiety because we are sitting here waiting,” said Amy…