How Seminaries Must Prepare for the Future

by | Jun 1, 2012 | Opinion

I received my first seminary degree 42 years ago this month. There is much about that experience that I still treasure.  I studied under some excellent professors, made a number of friends that I encountered occasionally in my subsequent years of ministry, acquired...

5 Changes That Have Influenced Church Staffing

by | May 15, 2012 | Opinion

In going through some files recently, I came across a church newsletter from April 1976. It provided an interesting snapshot of this particular church at that time. This county seat Baptist church in a southern state was averaging more than 650 in Sunday morning...

5 Questions to Identify Your Church’s Identity

by | May 10, 2012 | Opinion

Although some say that we live in a post-denominational age, there is something comfortable and reassuring about identifying not only with a particular denominational “tribe” but a specific “clan” of that tribe.  This is true of those who call...

Explaining to a 3-Year-Old Why Taxes are Good

by | Apr 17, 2012 | Opinion

How do you explain taxes to a 3-year-old?  I was leaving the house one day to pick up the completed tax return from our preparer. Cooper, our grandson, asked where I was going. When I told him, I could tell that the idea of “taxes” was not on his radar.  I...