Let me get to the bottom line: I believe every church ought to send their pastor on at least one international mission trip, including paying his way (and his spouse’s way). Here’s why:
A couple of years ago, I had the chance to go to Atlanta for a couple of days of baseball to watch the Braves play the Royals. On Wednesday the game was a "businessman's special," which is a noon game that many people take off work to attend or use as a way to entertain clients. Even with the thrill of being at a Major League game, I was more taken by a conversation I eavesdropped on in front of me that I will never forget.
Most of the mechanisms God uses to transform us into Christlikeness aren’t big; they're small. They are the series of choices we face day after day. This is how Paul described growing in Christ – not as something exciting, but as a methodical process akin to that of athletic training:
Just a few blocks from the east side of downtown Houston is the cultural home of a longstanding and historic Mexican-American community. Walls are decorated with murals that recount their history. Across town, just west of the first interstate loop is a small commercial district named the Mahatma Gandhi District, an official title granted by the city in 2010. Go a few miles further west down Bellaire Boulevard, and the street signs eventually turn into Chinese.
TIGERVILLE, S.C. (BP) – Southern Baptists are overwhelmingly a complementarian convention of churches. This means we are committed to biblical teachings about distinct-yet-complementary gender roles for men and women, as well as the principle of male leadership in the family and the church.
TIGERVILLE, S.C. (BP) – Southern Baptists have begun a public conversation about the relationship between our confession of faith and our commitment to cooperation.
TIGERVILLE, S.C. (BP) — Los cristianos han estado debatiendo los puntos más finos de la escatología, o el “fin de los tiempos,” desde al menos el siglo II. ¿Se cumplen las promesas de Dios a Israel en el Antiguo Testamento acerca de la tierra literal o figurativamente o una combinación de las dos? ¿Cuál es la naturaleza del milenio y cuándo ocurre en la divina línea del tiempo de Dios? ¿Es el rapto un aspecto de la Segunda Venida o es un evento separado? ¿Qué continuidad existe entre el orden presente creado y los nuevos cielos y la nueva tierra?
TIGERVILLE, S.C. (BP) -- Christians have been debating the finer points of eschatology, or the “end times,” since at least the second century. Are God’s Old Testament promises to Israel about the land fulfilled literally or figuratively or some combination of the two? What is the nature of the millennium and when does it occur in God’s divine timeline? Is the rapture an aspect of the Second Coming or is it a separate event? How much continuity exists between the present created order and the new heavens and new earth?
TIGERVILLE, S.C. (BP) -- Historians call the final quarter of the 19th century the Gilded Age, a term originally coined by Mark Twain. It was an era characterized by unprecedented industrialization, spurred on especially by the expansion of the railroad industry. It was the age of tycoons, monopolies, mass immigration, rapid urbanization and significant wealth disparity.
Columnist Nathan Finn says Southeastern Seminary's graduating class makes him very hopeful about the future of the Southern Baptist Convention.
College shouldn't be a roadblock to Christian growth, says columnist and professor Nathan Finn, who lists ways in which collegians can grow in their faith.
Columnist Nathan Finn recently took part in a mission trip where he saw Muslims come to Christ and be baptized -- in a country where such actions can bring persecution.
WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)--I'm not opposed to Santa Claus. I understand why many Christians are uncomfortable with the myth of Santa and respect their decision.
WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)--I don’t watch much television. In fact, if you don’t count the morning news program playing in the background while I am getting dressed and groomed in the morning, then I typically spend less than eight hours a week watching the tube. And if there is not a sporting event I want to watch that week, the number drops to about five hours. We don’t even have cable at the Finn house -- we plug the set into the wall, adjust the “rabbit ears” and on a good day pick up about six channels of varied fuzziness.
