Articles from January 2019

Pastors are always surrounded by people; whether they are preaching a sermon to a full church on Sunday, attending crowded prayer meetings or ministering to the hurting. Yet crowds of people don’t necessarily bring connection. And isolation can be a serious reality for the person behind the pulpit.

I have been in the Amazon for nine months, and every day I have seen with greater clarity the purposes of God in that place.

"We aren't just the first campus ministry there, we are the first student organization to be on that campus, as well."

My main spiritual gifts/talents are encouragement, working with kids, leadership, and singing. I was hoping maybe one of them would be useful while I was in New York. Little did I know, God had much more in store for me!

There are many stories that could capture the essence of the work my team and I did during our journey to the camp. A big part of me didn't want to write about my journey to the Greek island or about while I was in the camp; thinking about it makes my heart ache and tears well up in my eyes.

Texas Baptists expanded missions partnerships with two state conventions, committing to assist with church planting and revitalization efforts with the Northwest Baptist Convention, serving Washington, Oregon, and Northern Idaho, and the Baptist State Convention of Michigan.

Upon applying to Go Now Missions, I was very compelled to be able to connect with the Asian culture. I initially applied to go to the East Asia trip and upon hearing that I was not appointed there, I was confused. I felt that it was the spot the Lord wanted me to be. However, he opened a new horizon to a completely different place and it was right here in the states. It was in New York.

Jimmy Allen, a former president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) and former director of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission (CLC), died Tuesday, Jan. 8, at his home in Georgia. He was 91.

En su discurso de apertura en nuestro Día del Activismo del 2017, el Dr. Vincent Bacote, eticista cristiano y profesor del Wheaton College, dijo: “nuestras vidas como discípulos deben importar a cada hora de la semana”. El Dr. Bacote señaló que el discipulado cristiano debe incluir cada aspecto de nuestras vidas, tal como nuestro involucramiento político, pero muchos de nosotros tenemos dificultad en someter nuestra política a la autoridad completa de Jesucristo y de las Escrituras.

A menudo ponemos en compartimentos nuestras vidas como cristianos. Le damos al Señor dominio sobre nuestras vidas dos horas el domingo, pero nuestro dinero, voto, y familias nos pertenecen. Aún cuando declaramos que Jesucristo es Señor, actuamos como si las fronteras de su reino solo se extendieran hasta donde nos es cómodo, pero los ciudadanos no determinan las fronteras de una nación sino las autoridades electas. Los cristianos somos ciudadanos del reino celestial, y si declaramos que Jesucristo es Señor, Él determina las fronteras (Colosenses 1).

El misiólogo escocés Lesslie Newbigin lo dice de esta manera: “La confesión ‘Jesús es Señor’ implica el compromiso de hacerla valer en relación a la vida entera del mundo: su filosofía, cultura, y política en un lugar no inferior al de la vida personal de sus habitantes”.

Aunque a fin de cuentas nuestra ciudadanía está en el cielo, nuestra ciudadanía celestial debería informar a la terrenal. Esta no es un llamado a la teocracia; es un llamado a que los principios cristianos informen cómo pensamos sobre asuntos públicos y sobre el involucramiento político. Los Estados Unidos no son una nación cristiana. Nuestros padres fundadores intencionalmente incluyeron lenguaje en la Constitución que prohíbe un estándar religioso para los oficiales federales electos.