Blog Archives

Running the race on the first saturday of May

Posted on May 7, 2013 by George Bullard — No Comments ↓

Reflections from Saturday May 4th I’m pondering the significance of this day–the first Saturday of May in 2013. Traditionally in my place of residence, Columbia, S.C., it marks the beginning of the transition from spring to summer. Temperatures typically start…

What kind of Baptist are you?

Posted on March 18, 2013 by George Bullard — No Comments ↓

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…

Flawed heroes

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Mike Smith — No Comments ↓

Flawed heroes are the only ones available. This should not surprise us. Take biblical heroes for example. A friend and I have been discussing the Noah story lately. My friend is not taken with Noah. As he notes, Noah tells…

Tagged with: Bible, Flood, Heroes, Kings, Noah, Prophets, sin
Posted in Blog Posts, Faithful Living, Leadership, Spiritual Formation

Reading Scripture is like rock climbing

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Mimi Haddad — No Comments ↓

Settling for the “clearest reading” of a Bible passage is not enough if doing so causes the Bible to contradict itself. In a recent interview with the New Voice Media Group (which includes Associated Baptist Press), I used rock climbing…

The tyranny of Sunday

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Derik Hamby — 2 Comments ↓

The Sunday sermon is a beast that is difficult to handle. It comes every week and it comes fast. Each week we are expected to be our best and to preach a sermon that will leave folks moved and challenged. …

Tagged with: Bible, Generational, Generations, Lectionary, Sermons, Sunday, Worship styles
Posted in Faithful Living

Humility: A key to postmodern faith?

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Kate Hanch — No Comments ↓

I never expected to land on humility as an emphasis of study in postgraduate work, but it makes sense. Ever since God called me to vocational ministry, I’ve been interested in the intersection of faith, academics and postmodern culture. Reflecting…

Tagged with: Bible, disagreement, faith, Humility, postmodern, theology
Posted in Church Starts, Leadership, Ministry, Missiology

Thoughts on election year conduct

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Barry Howard — No Comments ↓

This summer while visiting various sites in the ancient Roman Empire, I tried to brush up on my knowledge of the history of Western Civilization. Just to make a full disclosure, the only “D” I made in college was in…

Tagged with: Bible, Caesar, election, Greece, Istanbul, leadership, Recovery, Roman Empire, Turkey
Posted in Faithful Living, Seminary Voices, Theology

50 years of confusion about school prayer

Posted on September 20, 2012 by George Bullard — No Comments ↓

Fifty years after the Supreme Court case that excluded required prayers from public schools in the USA, confusion reigns around this issue. One of the easiest ways to rally some conservative Christians emotionally is to proclaim that prayer must be…

Beware of fact checkers

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Don Flowers — 1 Comment ↓

My uncle James is one of the greatest storytellers I have ever known. He just loves sharing a good story. I remember an early morning phone call (5 am) while I was a student in England when he just had…

Tagged with: Bible, Fact checkers, sermon, stories, Storytelling
Posted in Ministry

‘Love Your Neighbor with Your Vote’

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Mark Wingfield — 7 Comments ↓

We don’t put out political yard signs at our house. For 21 years as a journalist, I could not take a publicly partisan stand on political matters. And now as a pastor, I should not take a public partisan stand.…

Tagged with: Bible, Democrat, Good Samaritan, Independent, Jesus, New Testament, Republican, Vote, Voting
Posted in Faithful Living, Leadership, Public Policy, Social Issues