By Grayson Hester North Macedonia (commonly referred to as simply “Macedonia”) doesn’t loom large on the radars of many Americans. In the shadow of much larger and more influential European countries, this small nation near Albania tends to get overlooked. Whereas France and Germany, for example, contain internationally renowned metropolises, Macedonia by and large, features … Continue reading
By Grayson Hester Lucien, better known by his church community as Dyak (“deacon” in Haitian Creole) has witnessed enormous change in the three years since his story was featured on the CBFblog. For one, Lucien’s home of Haiti has endured crisis after crisis in the last year alone—from the assassination of its president, Jovenel Moïse, … Continue reading
By Meg Lacy Vega Many of us remember singing the refrain of the hymn “Deep and Wide” at the top of our kid-sized lungs, in Sunday school or at Vacation Bible School. The 20th century hymn by Sidney Cox is about living water that flows from the wounds of Christ, becoming “a fountain flowing dqeep … Continue reading
By Grayson Hester When CBF Communications first featured Nabeha and her daughter Hanin as part of the Offering for Global Missions campaign in 2019, the headline read as follows: “The Impact of Abundant Life.” Not easy life, or luxurious life. Not even good life. Abundant life. The kind of life Jesus promises for us, and … Continue reading
By Jennifer Colosimo One person’s trash is another’s treasure… or, so they say. For Pastor Jorge Zayasbazan and the congregation at San Antonio’s Baptist Temple, their trash has turned out to be the secret to their own greater treasure. In 2010, the church had decided to open up its building for a local charter school. … Continue reading
By Grayson Hester Preston Clegg, pastor of Second Baptist Church in downtown Little Rock, Ark., doesn’t like the idea of missing out on joy. In January 2019, Clegg joined scores of Little Rock residents in celebrating the inauguration of the city’s first democratically-elected Black mayor, Frank Scott. Having been friends with Scott long before the … Continue reading
By Melody Harrell “The Danger of a Single Story” is a must-see TED Talk, captivatingly presented by Chimamande Ngozi Adichie of Nigeria. In her talk, she describes the trap we all fall into of making assumptions about people we haven’t met and places we haven’t been—limited thinking that shrinks our own world rather than nurturing … Continue reading
By Jennifer Colosimo Back in the 1960s, Hampton Baptist Church started a soup kitchen to serve the local Hampton, Va., community in need. As more than 50 years have passed and mindsets have evolved, organizers wanted to show that the program had done the same. Volunteers were doing much more than serving a meal. They … Continue reading
By Chris Hughes By the time twin brothers Jacob and Esau made it to Kampala, Uganda, the young men had already endured a lifetime’s worth of struggle. As teenagers, they fled from their native South Sudan after the country gained its independence in 2011, and internal factions began fighting over control of the government. In … Continue reading
By Grayson Hester Mary likes to ride her bike. A lot. It’s part of living in the Netherlands, where she and her husband, Keith Holmes, have served as Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel for decades. Americans tend to drive; Dutch find it easier to walk, or bike, or take the bus. And while biking, Mary … Continue reading
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