Blog
Blog  Rachel Lackey, Co-Director of Alliance mission partner, The Sabbath House
The story is told of an indigenous guide who was leading a missionary through the jungle. They had been traveling on foot over rough terrain for several days. Suddenly, the guide stopped and sat down. The missionary protested. They had many miles to go before reaching their destination, but the guide refused to go any further. When questioned as to why, he simply said, “I am waiting for my soul to catch up with my body.”
Paula Clayton Dempsey, Minister for Partnership Relations
Blessed to be a blessing is not only the inscription on the 50th anniversary banner at Ravensworth Baptist Church in Annandale, Va., it’s also a fact! This progressive Baptist group formed into a congregation in March of 1959 and they’ve been a blessing to the Ravensworth/North Springfield area ever since.
Zach T. Roberts, Alliance member and Associate Pastor for Education & Discipleship, Ridge Road Baptist Church
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” —1 Peter 2:9
In a recent interview on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” while discussing how he began his latest book, writer E. L. Doctorow said, “first lines are crucial...they give you the voice. They are the acorn from which the oak grows. You can find the entire book in that first line.” If we were to take that approach in looking at the story of Baptists we would see that our first line represents a voice of dissent.
Sources gathered by Susan Parrish, Minister for Development
You have worked hard to accumulate assets throughout your life. If you do not have a valid will or trust at your death, however, the state in which you reside will distribute those assets according to state law.
When you create a will, you have the ability to determine how your assets are distributed at your
death to the individuals and charitable organizations of your choice. And, including a bequest in
your will to a charitable organization such as The Alliance of Baptists may be the best way to make
a meaningful gift and save specific assets, such as property, securities or real estate, in case you or
your family members need them in the future.
Mary Andreolli, Minister for Outreach and Communications
How many times do we just take the crumbs that are offered us? These crumbs may appear in the limits to job opportunities based on sex, race, or even who we love. They may also show up as limited access to healthcare because of how much money we make or because of where we live. Finally, these crumbs take the form of how much healing and care we allow ourselves and others through sabbaticals, self-care, spiritual formation, and even in death and dying.
Relma Hargus, Alliance of Baptists, Editor
The principles that form the Alliance covenant were announced to the world in 1987, but they have formed the heartbeat of what it means to be Baptist from our earliest history.
“Apart from these basic principles, we are not Baptist at all. These ideas are not around the edges of ‘being Baptist;’ they are the essence of ‘being Baptist,’” Cecil S Sherman writes in Being Baptist Means Freedom.
Rev. Paula Dempsey, Minister for Partnership Relations
It started with Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Then the Great Commission—Go ye therefore—followed by the missionary journeys of Paul, the testimonies of career missionaries, the study of mission work around the world, and then a semester doing inner city mission work. I was a missionary. My call to missions began in infancy, my Christian infancy, that is.
Carol Blythe Goodman, Chair, Alliance of Baptists, Social Justice Committee
One of my recent volunteer activities for the Alliance of Baptists has been “digitalizing” the minutes of the Board and the membership meetings. This has given me an opportunity to read the history of the organization–and it actually is quite interesting! The early minutes reflect concern with the changes in the SBC, but as the years pass by, that issue fades and the identify of the Alliance as a group of progressive Baptists working together to do God’s good work in the world takes shape.
Melissa Hale, Alliance endorsed chaplain in Iraq
This month I was inspired by the David Letterman’s Top Ten Lists book my assistant has been reading.
The Top 10 Things Deployment Has Taught Me To Appreciate:
| |
|
