BAPTISTS: Reflections of the stats guy
Ed Stetzer, outgoing executive director of LifeWay Research, recaps his assessments of Southern Baptists' decline in membership and baptisms and his calls for greater initiatives in evangelism, church planting and engaging the culture.
FIRST-PERSON: Reaching the ‘dechurched’
Patience and engagement are needed for the "dechurched," whom Ed Stetzer describes as those who are closed to the church due to hurts they have experience or observed. Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research, notes that the dechurched "may be turned off to genuine Christian belief because they've never been exposed to it as 'good news.'"
FIRST-PERSON: Roseburg killings: How should Christians respond?
NASHVILLE (BP) -- According to early reports, Chris Harper Mercer, the alleged Oregon community college gunman, asked students to stand and state their religion before shooting them.
FIRST-PERSON: Chattanooga killings & radical Islamism
The killing of five servicemen in Chattanooga reflects the reality of a "multi-decadal war against radical Islamism," Ed Stetzer writes. Yet amid such conflict, Christians are called to "love our neighbors, including our Muslim ones," he notes.
FIRST-PERSON: Southern Baptists weigh ‘What Now?’
Ed Stetzer notes that Southern Baptists are on a path of accelerating decline in membership, baptisms and weekly worship attendance. If the trend line continues, Stetzer writes, "soon the SBC will be declining at 2 percent a year, then 3 percent, then...."
FIRST-PERSON: Takeaways from Pew’s Religious Landscape Survey
Ed Stetzer of LifeWay Christian Resources notes that "Christianity is not dying" but "nominal Christianity is" in his assessment of the newly released Pew Religious Landscape Survey.
FIRST-PERSON: Hobby Lobby, going forward
LifeWay Research Executive Director Ed Stetzer suggests Christians should move forward from the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision in prayer and on mission, making full use of the freedoms that Americans still possess.
FIRST-PERSON: Thoughts on alcoholism
LifeWay Research President Ed Stetzer says New Year's should cause evangelicals to consider their views on alcohol and its impact on those in the ministry and elsewhere.
FIRST-PERSON: Social media & political rants
Missions researcher Ed Stetzer voices caution about how Christians express their political views on Facebook and Twitter.
FIRST-PERSON: America still cries out to God when tragedy strikes
Times of tragedy show that Americans still believe God is the one who can help, says columnist Ed Stetzer.