Just as students across the UK are beginning the fall term, 169-year Spurgeon’s College in London has closed its doors for good. According to a statement by the school, the unexpected closure of Europe’s largest Baptist college on July 31…
Where does a multi-site megachurch find a new pastor?
When Gateway Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex announced its new senior pastor, most attention fell on Daniel Floyd’s role in picking up the pieces of his predecessor’s sexual abuse scandal. But his appointment is significant for another reason: He…
What happened to Saddleback’s PEACE Plan?
Rick and Kay Warren gave an excellent interview to Krista Tippett, on the On Being radio show almost 20 years ago, on Dec. 6, 2007. In it, Pastor Rick says this: The reason there are hungry people in the world,…
Andy Stanley warns of religious leaders who prioritize politics over mission
North Point Church’s groundbreaking efforts to create churches across Georgia not designed for church people are being undermined by evangelicals who have prioritized politics over mission, Pastor Andy Stanley told his congregation Dec. 29. In a nearly hour-long sermon that…
What happened to ‘friendship evangelism’?
My grandpa, Edwin Penner, mortgaged his house to build our hometown Baptist church in Chico, Calif. Once built, he drove his Dodge pickup over every Sunday at 6 a.m. to turn on the heat or air conditioning for the comfort…
Top news stories in 2023 were about Charles Stanley, women in ministry and fracturing of UMC
A 2022 story about the wealth of televangelist Charles Stanley drew more readership than any other Baptist News Global news article this year — outpacing even the later story of his death. Women in ministry, including the expulsion of Rick…
Rick Warren’s letter to the SBC was BNG’s most-read opinion piece in 2023
Rick Warren’s personal appeal to Southern Baptists about his battle with the Southern Baptist Convention over church autonomy and women in ministry were the most-read Baptist News Global opinion pieces in 2023. The issue of patriarchy and women’s roles in…
Rick Warren wants to talk about the Great Commission
Rick Warren thought he was going to be late for our appointment, but with good reason. The best-known pastor in America had been to the grocery store. He knows most of the workers there by name, but this checker was…
Complementarianism harms men and women both
What no one seems to be talking about is the harm the Southern Baptist Convention is doing to both women and men. Demands to define a strict gender binary and assign specific roles by gender are causing harm to every…
The influence of celebrity culture on the court, in the church and in journalism
While the Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat to win the NBA title for the first time in their 47-year history last week, Southern Baptist complementarians defeated the egalitarians to win the title of “pastor” exclusively for men for the…
Picking up the pieces of the SBC
An email pen pal wrote me this weekend to point out the irony of the Southern Baptist Convention’s actions last week against women in church leadership: “Do we realize a 20-year-old boy in college can pastor a Baptist church? But…
Anti-egalitarian forces make clean sweep at SBC annual meeting
Anti-egalitarian forces in the Southern Baptist Convention made a clean sweep of their agenda to exclude women from serving as pastors of any kind in SBC churches. In the process, they affirmed the expulsion of the denomination’s largest church and…