Blog
Blog  by Wayne Grinstead
Following Cuba’s first leadership change in almost five decades, the world’s media speculated on what the future holds for the island’s 11 million people.
To many observers, Cuba has changed little since 1959 when Fidel Castro’s rebels overthrew U.S. backed President Fulgencio Batista, marched triumphantly into Havana, set up headquarters in the Havana Libre Hotel—formerly the Havana Hilton—and proclaimed the country a Socialist state.
by Kim Gazella
Sometimes, dreams really do come true! For the community of El Bejuco in Nicaragua, a magnificent, long-awaited dream came true with the official opening of its new health clinic June 26.
Working through the Alliance of Baptists’ international partner organization AMOS Health and Hope, a 15-member delegation from Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., had broken ground for the clinic more than a year ago with the financial support of Pullen and many individual contributions.
by Melissa Hale
Dear family and friends,
Another month has gone by… it has been a rather eventful one.
I have had a couple of opportunities to interact with Iraqi Nationals. The first was the Women’s Initiative Conference that I attended with the Brigade’s Women’s Initiatives Team. We talked to Iraqi women about ways to empower them in their communities. 65% of Iraqi women are widows. A good portion of these have little to no family support to help take care of them and their children. Some can’t get help from the government of Iraq (GoI) because they do not have a death certificate for their husband (due to kidnapping, missing, etc.). There are lots of programs being put in place to help.
Chris Copeland, Minister for Leadership Formation The first conversation we had as a group was whether our discussions could be videotaped for a web podcast. Although there was much discussion, the general sense was that if the camera were on, some folks would not be able to share what they really thought, but rather would speak in an official capacity. I looked across the room and caught the eye of Phyllis Tickle — founding editor of the religion department of Publishers Weekly and an authority on Emergence Christianity — and realized I was not the only person surprised and discouraged by this conclusion. www.homebrewedchristianity.orgK. Holly Hollman, General Counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty
From our beginning, Baptists have been relentless in the battle to protect religious liberty. As we commemorate four centuries of Baptist life, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty continues to honor our heritage by promoting the right to be free from government interference in matters of faith. We are a nonprofit education and advocacy organization promoting religious liberty for all and upholding the principle of church-state separation. Baptists have always understood that the two must go together, and we are continuing the campaign that began 400 years ago.
by Paula Clayton Dempsey, Minister for Partnership Relations
During my initial involvement as a representative of the Alliance of Baptists at the National Council of Churches, I grew to realize that all I need to know about ecumenism, I learned in Hurdle Mills, N.C. — not from my home church, but from the farming community in which I was nurtured.
by Paula Clayton Dempsey, Minister for Partnership Relations
Since living in western North Carolina I have had the pleasure of experiencing shape note singing — a two-centuries-old method used to teach the singing of four-part harmony. In the
Asheville area, we sing from The Christian Harmony, a hymnal that includes songs preserved and passed on by William Walker and his contemporaries. Some of the tunes are joyful, some mournful; all have texts expressing theology deeply rooted in Biblical text and life experience.
by Susan Parrish, Minister for Development
Would you like to be able to catch people’s attention with your printed materials?
Would you like to save money from the high cost of quality printing by doing it better at your own church or place of business?
Would you like to receive a high-end printer that does this and yet cost you nothing?
by LeDayne McLeese Polaski, Program Coordinator, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America
What do you get when you bring together a bunch of American Baptists with a
40-year organizational history dedicated to peacemaking and a gaggle of
Southern Baptists with little organization but a huge commitment to
following the Prince of Peace?
by Brian Dixon, Pastor of Dolores Street Baptist Church in San Francisco, California
Where do we find God? How do we find God? Does God only show up in our pristine sanctuaries, with dark wooden pews, high lofty ceilings, and brightly colored stained glass windows? Does God speak only through well-tuned choirs, eloquent prayers, and polished and well-rehearsed preachers? Of course the answer is a resounding “No.” But do we really live out of that belief or do we instead offer implicit claims that indeed these are the only places and the only ways that God shows up in our world, the only altars where the divine is met?
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