Commentary: Threatened by a Baby? … by Don Kirkland

Valuable, and even essential, insight into the meaning of the birth of Jesus can be gained by considering the events of that sacred moment in divine and human history through the eyes and in the mind of the Christmas story’s most sinister figure, King Herod. Herod was an Idumean, a descendent of Abraham through Isaac […]

Commentary: Sands in the Hourglass … by Don Kirkland

My ?Commentary? as editor of The Baptist Courier is down to its last two appearances, with my final offering to our readers to be published in our Dec. 20 edition. The end of the year and my completion of 42 years in communications ministry for South Carolina Baptists is within earshot now, and I find great joy and even satisfaction in reflecting on my time spent in service at Furman and Anderson universities, and at the Courier, which accounts for 38 of those years, the last 16 as editor.

Commentary: Required: Vision, Leadership … by Don Kirkland

The 2012 gathering of South Carolina Baptists in their annual meeting was my last as the editor of your Baptist Courier. It was memorable to me for that reason, but not for that reason alone. I looked for, and found, signs of promise that prompted cautious hope on my part for a future that will be different from, but a continuation of, the journey of faith and hope that our body of Baptists have walked together, with still some distance to go.

The Challenge to S.C. Pastors: ‘Stay on the Wall’

What would a Hebrew cupbearer in the court of the Persian king centuries ago say to ministers today who are finding it difficult to be bearers of the heavy loads they must carry in fulfillment of their calling of God? Three words declared evangelist Rick Coram: 'stay on the wall.?

Commentary: The ?Unfinished Business? ? by Don Kirkland

Unfinished business awaits messengers to the annual meeting of the South Carolina Baptist Convention in Greenville Nov. 13-14. Last year, messengers gave overwhelming and enthusiastic approval to an 11-point report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. At the request of the task force, the report was not separated and voted on part by part, but instead was approved as a whole.

Pastors Conference to focus on endurance

During a dark period in the pastoral ministry of Brad Goodale, he received and remembered five words of challenge from a friend: ?Do it right. Don't quit.? Those words have now been translated into the theme of the 2012 South Carolina Baptist Pastors Conference. ?Enduring to the End? will be the emphasis at the annual meeting set for Nov. 12 at Brushy Creek Baptist Church in Taylors.

Commentary: Enduring to the End – by Don Kirkland

As the apostle Paul sent out his letters to far-flung communities of faith who were discovering that following Jesus was not the easiest path they had ever tried to follow, he drew from the athletic world for his most memorable metaphor for life: It's a race to the finish.