Autumn is almost here. This means we’re on the edge of cold and flu season. However, this cold and flu season may be a little tricky thanks to COVID-19. (Oh, how tired I am of typing that!) The thing is, during cold and flu season, in a normal year, people tend to cough, have fever […]
Comic Belief: So You Think You Had a Bad Day?
When you got up this morning, was the bird singing outside your window a buzzard? Did you put your pants on backwards and they fit better? Did you wake up to discover that your waterbed had leaked and then realized you don’t have a waterbed? You may be tempted to have a pity party and […]
Outside the Walls: Rise to Serve
“Can you help us?” It was a humbling honor to receive this request from Molly Spearman, superintendent of the South Carolina Department of Education, directed to South Carolina Baptist churches. Because of the work our churches have done through Heart4Schools in serving over 200 schools in our state, she hoped we could help. Our schools […]
President’s Perspective: We Are Great Commission Baptists
Baptist identity has always been rooted in our shared beliefs. The discussions around Baptist identity over the last few decades have centered around “Baptist distinctives.” While Baptists share a majority of their beliefs with other Protestant Christians, they also hold to certain beliefs that set them apart. Baptist distinctives include believer’s baptism by immersion, regenerate […]
Editor’s Word: Pandemic Giving
Financial predictions for giving to churches and Christian ministries looked bleak in mid-March when the American economy seemed to come to a screeching halt. Fast forward to the present, and surprise! Christian giving is alive and healthy. In July, a survey was released by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. It included over 1,300 Christian […]
Wholly Healthy: COVID Paranoia
I have physician friends around the country in hospitals large and small. Therefore I would like to say a few things to fellow Christians about COVID-19. Let me assure you that it isn’t a hoax. This is a very real virus that causes a very real disease. Since it first emerged, clinicians and researchers have […]
Comic Belief: Recycling Your Past
A mailman with a new route came to a house with a mean-looking German shepherd on the porch. When he approached the mailbox, the dog jumped 20 feet in the air, and then sat down. The owner walked out to check on the commotion. The mailman asked in amazement, “Why did he do that?” The […]
Outside the Walls: Facing a Pivotal Time
“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion.” Abraham Lincoln would say these words at the 1862 State of the Union address as the country found itself gripped in a war that put brothers at odds with […]
Editor’s Word: It’s Time to Rejoice!
It is time for God’s people to rejoice! In America, we have a divided nation, a raging pandemic, racial tensions, economic turbulence, and an election year creating bitterly divisive and ungodly rhetoric. However, those things are not the reason we need to rejoice. We need to rejoice because it is God’s will and it is […]
Outside the Walls: America the Beautiful
“He’s fine. Leave him alone.” I couldn’t believe my father’s words. He had just asked my first son, his grandson, to come to him when he was about 3 years old. “No!” Caden said, and then proceeded to kick him in the shin and walk away. I braced for what I knew would happen next. […]