(OPINION) We are living in times of great shaking, times of refining and purifying. How should we respond? In the words of the gospel song, and in the spirit of Isaiah 6, we should say, “Take the coal, touch my lips, here I stand.” Let the cleansing begin with me.
Read More(REVIEW) It seems like everyone is making a Jesus movie these days. “The Chosen”, the multi-season TV series about the life of Jesus, is in its fourth season. Mel Gibson is still working on his “Passion” sequel. Oscar Isaac is playing Jesus in an upcoming animated movie. Within that lineup, one of the most innovative portrayals is a humble film made by a non-profit that depicts Jesus doing his ministry entirely through sign language.
Read MoreThe Ukraine Baptist Union grew from 900 churches to more than 2,000 within a decade or so, Bandura told Baptist Press, and amid the current war comprises 2,300 congregations. This time around, members hope individual Southern Baptist congregations will partner with Ukraine Baptist churches to help congregations rebuild after the war.
Read More(OPINION) This week I call attention to another vital principle. Our subject for today, ladies and gentlemen, is humility. I’ve been mulling over an essay by Frank Bruni that appeared in The New York Times. He’s a professor of journalism and public policy at Duke University, and a contributing writer for the Times’ opinion section.
Read MoreA flurry of traditional and social media discussion surrounding two SBC resolutions (one on in vitro fertilization, the other on religious liberty) has provoked clarifications among Southern Baptists following the Convention’s Annual Meeting June 11-12 in Indianapolis.
Read More(ANALYSIS) On June 13, 2024, Global Rights Compliance, an international nongovernmental organization, published evidence of Russian and pro-Russian forces using starvation as a method of warfare against Ukrainian civilians during their 85-day siege of Mariupol between February and May 2022.
Read MoreA specified Protestant version of the Ten Commandments must be displayed in all public schools in Louisiana by January 2025, the mandate of a bill Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law on June 19.
Read MoreIt appears that Emily Harrison — creator of the “Dear Christian Parent” website — is some kind of religious countercultural radical. By the way, for me “radical” is a compliment when discussing matters of digital-screen culture. The question is what brand of faith-based radical she is, since her Substack’s “about” page offers classic nondenominational-era language: “Believer in Jesus. Wife. Mother. Writer & Speaker on kids and screen time. ScreenStrong Ambassador.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Anglican Church in North America has been one of the success stories in recent American church history. But the denomination is experiencing growing pains. Its growth has flattened, and there is growing discontent in the denomination about its inability (or unwillingness) to address head-on some vital issues.
Read More(ANALYSIS) It’s hard to get a read on where the SBC is headed, honestly. Some events would lead one to believe that they are headed in a very conservative direction (like the IVF resolution), while others tend to point to a denomination that is conservative, but not fundamentalist. But make no mistake — the data says that the average Southern Baptist is further to the right today than the average Southern Baptist from 30 or 40 years ago.
Read MoreGrand Canyon Education (GCE), a for-profit marketing agency for Grand Canyon University (GCU), has been sued in federal court for allegedly engaging in a racketeering scheme by students who enrolled in the university’s doctoral programs.
Read MoreVolunteers from the village and the Bia Lamplighter College of Education — which is associated with Churches of Christ — mixed bags of cement with water. The material would form the foundation for the first girls’ boarding school for primary education in a region known as the Bia West District, according to Lamplighter founder Augustine Tawiah. The nearest alternative is 11 hours away in the capital city of Accra.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The son of an Italian father and a Black mother, Mazzulla is an outspoken Catholic whose pregame routine includes pacing through an empty arena, praying with a rosary made with wood from the court of the original Boston Garden. While his faith has drawn many cheers across social media, it also attracted some criticism.
Read MoreTwo years ago, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the nationwide right to an abortion. In the aftermath, many churchgoers say they’ve seen their congregations involved in supporting local pregnancy resource centers. A Lifeway Research study finds three in 10 U.S. Protestant churchgoers have seen at least one type of congregational connection with those local centers.
Read MoreRev. James M. Lawson Jr., who died on June 9, 2024, at the age of 95, was a Methodist minister and a powerful advocate of nonviolence during the Civil Rights Movement. Lawson is best known for piloting two crucial civil rights campaigns – one in Nashville in 1960 and the other in Memphis in 1968.
Read More(REVIEW) “Sound of Hope” highlights an important issue and improves on many of the problems in the typical faith-based film industry. But the problems it does retain from the genre heavily weakens what could have been a truly wonderful theatrical experience. For those of us who’ve been waiting on faith-based films to match their secular counterparts for a long time, “Sound of Freedom” definitely gives us something to hope for.
Read MoreThe history of the soundtrack of American evangelical culture is profiled in the new book, “God Gave Rock & Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music” by Leah Payne, Associate Professor of American Religious History at Portland Seminary. Payne, as a Pentecostal pastor’s daughter in a working-class town in rural Oregon, grew up with this music and later married an aspiring CCM artist.
Read MoreJoe Mazzulla woke up on Tuesday morning an NBA champion. It has been a very long and unlikely success story rooted in faith. Mazzulla — whose only head coaching experience before taking over the Boston Celtics in the fall of 2022 was at the NCAA Division II level — guided the team to a record 18th NBA championship after defeating the Dallas Mavericks in five games.
Read MoreA former nun has founded a not-for-profit organization, Girls Way of Life Charitable Trust, to help parents in these situations. The trust has established an inclusive school in Victoria Falls named Mother of all Humanity Private School to provide education solely for children with disabilities.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention was as newsworthy as usual, but unusually significant. The Tennessean depicted the deliberations as “a turning point for the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.” If so, will this turning turn out to be Southern Baptists’ migration toward neo-fundamentalism, a growing force within America’s complex evangelical movement?
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