By Emily Holladay ATLANTA — More than 800 people gathered Wednesday night at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Atlanta for a banquet and commissioning service for Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel, church starters, chaplains and pastoral counselors. In preparation for the commissioning, CBF chaplains, church starters and field personnel shared their own stories. Andy Hale, … Continue reading
Author Archives: Emily Holladay
CBF Governing Board meets at General Assembly
By Emily Holladay The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Governing Board met this afternoon to approve nominations to be made before the Assembly during Thursday morning’s Business Session. The Board approved nominations to present additional names for the Nominating Committee, Ministries and Missions Councils and the Governing Board itself. In addition to the nominations, CBF Executive Coordinator … Continue reading
Baptist Women in Ministry celebrates 50th anniversary of Addie Davis’ ordination
By Emily Holladay More than 400 people gathered this morning for worship at First Baptist Church of Decatur to celebrate the work of Baptist Women in Ministry, particularly honoring the 50th anniversary of Addie Davis’ ordination by Watts Street Baptist Church in Durham, N.C. Davis was the first woman ordained by the Southern Baptist Convention … Continue reading
General Assembly kicks off with Atlanta Sessions and Dawnings Prayer Retreat
By Emily Holladay The 2014 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Atlanta kicked off Monday with Atlanta Sessions for college and graduate students and the Dawnings Prayer Retreat. Atlanta Sessions will continue throughout the week of General Assembly, giving college students the ability to experience all aspects of Assembly, and the prayer retreat will wrap … Continue reading
Faithfulness over Success
By Kyle Tubbs Halfway through our first year as a church, a little bit of pressure started to mount: Should our membership be increasing at a quicker rate? How will we pay the bills? What will I say to people who think we haven’t reached as many people as they think we should? I went … Continue reading
Woven Together: The threads chaplains and pastoral counselors weave
By Gerry Hutchinson Summertime is upon us. For me that means home grown tomatoes, sweet corn, fried okra, time at the beach and General Assembly. I love the theme of this year’s General Assembly “Woven Together with each other and with God’s Mission.” It prompts me to ponder what threads do chaplains and pastoral counselors … Continue reading
Reflections from Dawnings: A General Assembly prayer retreat preview
By Jim Hunter Most of us can pinpoint a time in our journey when God’s Spirit was allowed to break through the ordinary of the everyday. Some, like me, will admit that it’s been a while, maybe years, since such an awe-inspiring spiritual awareness has been present. Sure, I’ve been with people of faith who … Continue reading
Woven Together: All of our threads come together at General Assembly
By Bo Prosser I love General Assembly! And that surprises me because crowds are not really my thing. But I love seeing friends from across the Fellowship, putting names and faces together, making new friends. There is a palpable excitement in the air around Assembly time in anticipation of the relationships to renew and begin. … Continue reading
The Mission Engagement Portfolio: A framework for evaluating your congregation’s mission impact
By Ryan Clark This American Life plays in Atlanta on Sunday night, though, most of the time I listen to it as a podcast. Back in September, there was a show was about getting into college. The first act interviewed Rick Clark, dean of admissions at Georgia Tech (no relation). I was intrigued since I … Continue reading
Words from the Coordinator: A pilgrimage of 100 visits and a denomi-network
By Suzii Paynter Pilgrimage — a journey of deliberate but often unpredictable discovery. And so it has been visiting almost 100 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship partner churches in the past months. I’ve learned a few lessons from being greeted by hundreds of people including pastors and staff, members, students, friends and curiosity seekers. There is sustaining … Continue reading