All of those commands take courage. They take a faith that is, if not ironclad, then certainly covered by the blood of Jesus. It is difficult to invite the homeless poor inside in a time when any stranger could be dangerous. It is difficult to share food with the hungry when over 50 million children in the U.S. go hungry every day. It is nearly impossible to cancel debts when my generation is more in debt than any other generation in history. Read more
I think healthcare should have two beneficiaries: patients and care-givers. If another entity has to make money based on my health, then it’s not possible either for the patient to afford the care or the care-givers to be paid what they deserve. I’m not an economist, but this seems to be the reality we refuse to face. I have nothing against all the wonderful people who work in the health insurance industry, but I’d rather the doctor, nurse and CNA get wealthy on my surgery. Read more
A Cooperative Baptist seminarian in Texas shares five ways that churches can support foster and adoptive families Read more
Today, numerous pulpits across various faith traditions continue to lack the ministerial voice and presence of women. Excluding them denies the significant contributions of leading foremothers within the pages of the Bible. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is one of them. God sought a body to place The Word in and God chose a vessel in the form of woman. God’s selection of Mary is relational to the uniqueness of the woman preacher. The woman is able to bring forth the Word unlike any way that a man preacher can. It does not mean her gifting to preach is better than a man’s but rather, it is equal and distinct to her body. Read more
As the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship celebrates 25 years, it also celebrates the influential women who call CBF home and are leaders in their churches and communities around the world. Leading Women, a three-day gathering co-hosted by Baptist Women in Ministry, will be held April 26-28 at First Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn. Read more
Jesus of Nazareth was radical only in the classic sense of that word. Radical means “root.” Remember doing your radicals in school, finding square roots? In the truest sense, Jesus was a conservative, committed to recovering the root of God’s dream for Israel and all nations. He was passionate about returning—returning to personal and social holiness and wholeness. Along with the Hebrew prophets, Jesus chose to align his politics with the oppressed, not the oppressors. And that cost him his life. Read more
We all have our reasons to be cynical, and no I'm not talking about a healthy skepticism that doesn't believe anything and everything you hear. I am, to a certain degree, talking about how we can diminish this narrative of "fake news" and come to know what the truth is when we are confronted by it. I do want to be part of a people who "walks in the truth" so the world will know there's an alternative, more positive approach to life (3 John 4). Read more
Our churches deserve us to be in our best condition for leading, teaching and proclaiming. Our families need us to be in our best condition for loving them, guiding them and caring for them. The Kingdom needs us to be in our best condition for being the presence of Christ in the world living out the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. Read more
Ruach is in all living things. We love to remember the Holy Spirit at Pentacost that comes to all believers of Christ, but we forget that ruach was given to all living things back in Genesis. This significance is two-fold. First, the ruach in Genesis is not something external that we pray to come upon us but is something internal that is discovered deep within us. To know ruach is to know ourselves fully. We often live life unconscious of the things we do not know. It’s why we’re shocked when we hear about news that happened the day before. The same is true of ourselves. It’s why we’re shocked when we realize that we unconsciously drove all the way to work on a Saturday morning. If we want to feel closer to the Holy Spirit, the we need to become conscious of the things we do not know. We need to begin to step from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence and see where that leads us. Read more
Today, beautiful, inspiring artwork is being created for churches not through statues and paintings but through digital media. In 2017, the World Wide Web will have been around for nearly 30 years. It has moved beyond a fad for youth and young adults and turned into a powerful tool for multi-generational communication. If my grandmother has a Facebook account, then your church needs to consider how they are viewed online. Web design, graphic arts, photography, and video producing are modern avenues for creativity that churches often substitute with free clipart or meaningless stock footage. Sacred art tells a story, and hopefully, attempts to display the Gospel in a way that would attract more people to come visit your church. Read more
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