Digital subscribers may scroll to the bottom of this post to access the current Teaching Resources password. Published bimonthly (in print or digital access), Nurturing Faith Journal is an autonomous, national journal offering thoughtful analysis, inspiring features...

Two independent, national, faith-based entities are coming together to create a new non-profit organization known as Good Faith Media. The boards of directors of Baptists Today, Inc. (branded as Nurturing Faith) and Baptist Center for Ethics (branded as EthicsDaily)...

The little white church where I was baptized had blood red carpet. At five years old, I was scared of water splashing in my face, so our pastor let me take a practice swim on the Saturday night before my baptism. On Sunday morning we sang, “I’m so glad I’m a part of...

“The evangelical world needs leaders who embody holiness, not hubris; who grow disciples, not groom sycophants; who see themselves as naked before Christ, not robed in the prestige of their platforms; who know that when success becomes an idol that bullying becomes a...

Echoes resound from our childhood: “Be nice!” Above all else, be nice. Reinforced by every teacher, both the Sunday and weekday versions, along with relatives aplenty, we have been shaped into believing that upsetting the applecart — or causing a scene — is the worst...

What is a Baptist pastor in Arkansas doing cultivating a deep interest in a 12th/13th century Catholic saint? What could Assisi possibly have to do with North Little Rock? These are fair questions. I ask them myself. Even so, I not only defend my admiration for...

The World Health Organization (WHO) categorizes a pandemic as “when a new influenza virus emerges and spreads around the world, and most people do not have immunity. Viruses that have caused past pandemics typically originated from animal influenza viruses.” Of...

One in four American families has “problems paying or an inability to pay medical bills in the past 12 months” according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, an independent and non-profit public charity providing analysis and information about how health care policies...

A group of pastors asked me to share how church leadership and I handled the transition sparked by my retirement as pastor. Here’s how I told it: We started long before the retirement was on anyone’s agenda by implementing a new church governance system. Key lay and...

One of the most basic elements of Christian witness is the notion that the gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for all people. This fundamental idea is at the core of the proclamation of the gospel in Luke 2:8-11 (NRSV): In that region there were shepherds living in...

“Move back guys. A car is coming!” I hollered from my perch on the front steps, when the kids ventured closer to the road, past our fence, to look at something incredible. A special rock, an interesting stick, a muddy patch where the grass doesn’t grow — you get the...

It is two o’clock in the morning and the dog next door will not stop barking at invisible intruders, your beloved who never snores is snoring, the light streaming through the window makes you wonder why they call them blinds rather than light shows, and the mocha you...

Paul Montacute, global ‘Good Samaritan,’ 1946–2020 Paul Montacute, director of Baptist World Aid from 1993 to 2014, died Feb. 20. Originally from Great Britain, he was one of the key organizers of the Baptist World Alliance Youth Conference in Scotland in 1988. He...

Beneath a wide bridge on the main road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, just past a huge subdivision called Mevaseret Zion and less than four miles northwest of the Old City, one can find the remains of an ancient temple that may have been used to worship both Yahweh and...

We find our way to celebrating the legacy of E. Frank Tupper by many paths and life experiences. What makes this possible is the multi-dimensional nature of Tupper’s theology and the pastoral touch points along the way where he met us. What we encountered with Tupper...

Perhaps the final straw came on May 13, 1969, the day President Richard M. Nixon abruptly walked out of a meeting with civil rights leaders. A scribbled note expressed his disgust: “This shows that my judgment about not seeing such people is right. No More of This!”...

Early proclamations of Jesus’ teachings were often given orally by those who had encountered him personally. In the following centuries, however, more literary works emerged. Some of the most well-known and influential written works from this period come from the...

Today many Christians find themselves living between two powerful forces: secularism and fundamentalism. My objectives are to interpret these forces in order to understand how best to live in between them. Fortunately, we have massive sociological studies of both...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Nancy and Ken Sehested have not charted typical pastoral paths. In doing so, not only have they been uniquely effective but also have created a likely entrepreneurial, patchwork model for future ministers. They are pastors, peacemakers, prophets and...

Some people in the Old Testament lived to be hundreds of years old, but people have never lived that long. Were the years shorter? — Rebecca Tinsley Anderson, S.C. We all know about the birth of Adam; he was made by God “from the dust of the ground” (Gen. 2:7). But we...