First Person

It will be a tragic moment I will never forget. I was nearly finished teaching a class, ironically, on Christianity and culture to an eager group of Christian young people, when a text came across my iPad with the news that Charlie Kirk, champion for Christ, communicator of conservative values, and patriot, was shot at a rally at a college in Utah.

The last three days have reminded us, once again, of the frailty of human life in the face of the human capacity to inflict sudden, deadly violence upon other people.

Editor’s note: Recently, Midwestern Seminary & Spurgeon College hosted a chapel panel discussion on the topic, “Why We are Southern Baptist.” This article by Jason Duesing expands upon his comments during the chapel session and is based on his course lectures and essays written over the last two decades. Watch the full panel here. Why am I a […]

Of all the strategies that Satan uses to sow destruction into the lives of Christians and unbelievers alike, none are more deceptive nor comprehensive than the lies surrounding human sexuality

I just wanted to know when dinosaurs lived.

Even now, the memories, emotions, and trauma of those days can come boiling out at the most unexpected times, filling my eyes with tears and my heart with memories so real it is like being there again.

Eighteen months before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, I left the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Kenner, La., (across the street from the New Orleans airport) to become director of missions for what was then called the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans and is now the New Orleans Baptist Association (NOBA).  

The goal of member-to-member ministry is a church that is growing in maturity. This happens as members serve one another by speaking the truth of Jesus Christ into each other’s lives. As we faithfully serve each other this way, we begin to think the same true things about the Faith, and we grow in our understanding of Jesus Christ and in our relationship to Him.  

In an age of shifting alliances, denominational decline and theological fragmentation, it’s fair to ask whether long-standing structures still deserve our support. For many Southern Baptists, one of the clearest examples of such a structure is the Cooperative Program — the unified giving plan that has funded our shared mission, theological education and ministry efforts for nearly a century. This “one sacred effort” has launched Southern Baptists to the forefront of missional engagement and evangelistic influence for decades.

“Lament” is defined as “a passionate expression of grief or sorrow,” and if this demonstrative form of prayer were an animal, it would not be domesticated.