Texas Baptists can be a lot of fun when they come together as they did this week at the Family Gathering in Arlington. As friends reunited, one might have heard Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World:” “I see friends shaking hands, saying, ‘How do you do?’ They’re really saying, ‘I love you.’”

Chad Chaddick, pastor of First Baptist Church in San Marcos, shares his background and thoughts on church and ministry.

Pastors associating with the BGCT for convictional reasons face a challenge. Many BGCT pastors do not feel at home in either the Southern Baptist Convention or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the two national Baptist bodies connected to BGCT churches.

“It may seem counterintuitive, if not downright implausible, that voting Democrat or Republican could change something as personal as our relationship with God,” Michele Margolis wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed. “But over the course of our lives, political choices tend to come first, religious choices second.”

We need to turn down the temperature in the culture wars. We need to resist the penetration of ideological polarization into matters of conscience. We should reject an insistence on consensus that subverts our national ethic of respect for minority views, and we should be suspect of the corporate machines that profit from these easy affirmations.

Student missions blog: The Muslim call to prayer cuts through this city five times a day. I should be used to it by now, but it still catches me off guard every time.

Student missions blog: I reluctantly agreed to go with a friend to her church’s outreach in a less-fortunate area of the city. I was tired from working the day shift at the clinic, but I decided it would be fun to try something new.

“In an age of misdirection, it is critical we know who defines truth, faith and salvation.”

Randel Trull, director of missions for the Harmony-Pittsburg Baptist Association in Pittsburg, Texas, shares his background and thoughts on church and ministry.

“The follow-up visits with Pete changed my life. … Pete was 86 years old when he accepted Christ.”

“A small but determined band of happy warriors, pro-life Democrats are some of the most interesting figures in American politics. Their continued existence in spite of marginalization by the party poses serious questions that the American political system cannot ignore.”

“A lot of this [apologetics] material wouldn’t appeal to a lot of people in black churches because the illustrations aren’t relevant, and some of the issues aren’t as relevant. There needs to be a bridge builder.”