Blog
Blog 
Michael Ray Matthews, Director of Outreach and Recruitment, PICO National Network
The Lord is near to the broken-hearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18 (NRSV)
“But Michael, the broken heart is the heart of black liberation theology.”
Kathy Manis Findley, Executive Director, Safe Places
If not the faith community, then who will care for children harmed by violence? If not now, when should faith communities take responsibility for the fact that children suffer from so many kinds of abuse and maltreatment? Who are the persons in our society who will listen to hear the “most unheard” voices, the voices of children? If we cannot hear their stories of pain and believe them, who will?
J. Lee Hill, Jr. Minister with Children, Youth & Young Adults, The Riverside Church of New York
A year ago I was granted the opportunity to gather with young ecumenical leaders from the US Conference of the World Council of Churches in Washington DC at The Preacher’s College with the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia. It was wintry afternoon and Dr. Kobia spoke to us with passion about his religious journey and his fight against injustices in his country. In vivid color and animation he shared with young ecumenical leaders how he developed a sense of “righteous anger” toward issues which mandated justice and hope against hope (Romans 5:5) in the struggle for liberation.
Carol Blythe, Peace and Justice Committee Chair
Over the last several years, the Peace & Justice Committee has worked on a variety of projects and statements. Alan Hoskins as Chair developed a registration process and form for Conscientious Objectors based on a statement adopted earlier. That registration process is included on our web site at (Link Here).
Paula Dempsey, Minister for Partnership Relations
When Jack Olney handed me the newspaper clipping that read First Baptist Welcomes Alliance of Baptists, there in print was truth in advertising! The welcome provided by First Baptist Church in Newton, Mass., to the Alliance folks that gathered from the Northeast and from the board of directors was no surprise.
Amy Jacks Dean, Alliance-affiliated Park Road Baptist Church, Charlotte, N.C.
We gathered in Boston—the air had that beginning-of-fall flavor that makes all things seem possible and good. As the Board trickled in from all of the country—and Canada too—the hugging began. You know the hugging. It’s one of the best things about the Alliance of Baptists.
Relma Hargus, Alliance of Baptists, Editor
When Nancy E. Petty stood up to preach at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church Aug. 23, where she stood on the need to be involved in health care reform was not in doubt.
“As our country debates health care reform people of faith cannot afford to stand safely on the shore on this issue while others brave the raging waters. On the issue of health care and the well being of all God's people, our faith calls us to act,” she began a sermon titled “Jesus, Einstein and Health Care Reform.”http://www.pullen.org/page/august-23-2009--jesus-einstein-and-health-care-reform
Tere Canzoneri, Alliance endorsed pastoral counselor, Emmanual Center for Pastoral Counseling, Decatur, Ga. Spiritual Formation, a term long used by Catholics and other faith traditions, has only recently been used more widely by Baptists to refer to the process of deepening understanding and practice of one’s faith over a lifetime. Though we never used that term, it is what we focused on in BTU when I was a child in the 1950s and early ‘60s. Mahan Siler, an Alliance Founder
You who are clergy have this in common: You practice leadership within in a particular community (congregation, hospital, prison, military, retirement home); you practice theological reflection, connecting the narratives of God with the narratives of communal and individual lives; and you practice spiritual disciplines that nourish the Source of your calling.
What if … you regularly gathered with a few colleagues and offered to each other support, collaboration and accountability in these practices of leadership, theological reflection and discernment, and soul nurturance?
Beverly Isley-Landreth, MDiv, ThM, CHTP, Alliance endorsed chaplain, Hospice and Palliative Care Center, Winston-Salem, N.C.
It is often said that Americans live in a death-denying culture. Others around the world have observed that we live as though we think death is optional, as though it happens only to an unfortunate few. And yet, spiritual self-care would call us to periodically and intentionally take the long view across our lifetimes; looking back across our years of living and ahead toward death as a culmination of our earthly spiritual journeys. What might it be like to look toward our dying process with intention about decision-making we might encounter; actively engaging those choices medicine gives us about the way we move through the interim of a life-limiting diagnosis and ultimately to the time of our transition?
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