For those of us who are preparing and traveling to CBF General Assembly, there is a question that is on all of our minds, “What is the future for CBF?” This is the 25th Anniversary of CBF and while it is a time to catch up with people and celebrate, it is also a time …
Next week is Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly, the annual gathering for those affiliated with moderate and progressive Baptist churches, the group that famously split with the SBC 25 years ago. 25 years ago CBF formed as the Baptist that supported women in ministry and upheld historic Baptist principles. Next week in the midst of the …
Yesterday, the alternate reading for the lectionary was Psalm 5:1-8: Psalm 5:1-8 5:1 Give ear to my words, O LORD; give heed to my sighing. 5:2 Listen to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I pray. 5:3 O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the …
As the conversation about gender and sexuality is more prevalent in American culture, the question, “Do we have to welcome and affirm all?” is circulating in churches. Some churches are responding to these conversations and this question by expressing their rights as religious institutions to express condemnation and judgement. Some churches are responding to these …
I’ve just recently finished re-reading Walking on Water by Madeline L’Engle. I’ve had the experience of having the book mean something completely different to me during this time of my life. That’s the power of words, isn’t it? They can change and transform you again and again as you meet or re-meet them at different …
Recently, Baptist News posted an article that provided some key questions ministerial candidates should ask during the pastor search process. They were good important questions and in some cases tough questions, but as I read the article, what overwhelmed me were the questions that the author didn’t have to ask in the pastor search process. …
What White Males Don’t Have to Ask in the Pastor Search Process Read More »
I was recently being interviewed and in the course of our discussion, my interviewer remarked: “Well, you have gotten the reputation of talking about hot button issues, people usually don’t want to talk about.” I laughed, but after the interview was over I thought a little more earnestly about that statement. Why did I ask …
This Sunday, I told my story to a faith community I had never visited before. As I shared about the moment I shared my call to ministry and received in reply, “We don’t believe that,” I saw some of their faces cringe. It’s a story they have heard, and they have experienced personally. Now, years …
When I was approached by a member of our church to perform the wedding to her girlfriend, I wasn’t surprised or shocked. Since I started classes in seminary, I knew that this would be a part of my ministry as a pastor of a church and as a minister. We studied and discussed the LGBTQ …
Recently, First Baptist Greenville and Augusta Heights Baptist Church in Greenville, SC have been asked by the SC Baptist Association to back down from statements and actions in support of people in the LGBT community or face disassociation from the SC Baptist Convention: The South Carolina Baptist Convention has called on First Baptist Greenville to recant …
Why Being Kicked Out of the Convention Isn’t Just Theological Read More »
