Shut up, Bing; it’s early

Martina McBride is wrapping up “Do you see what I see?” when my car radio comes on early this morning. Then Bing Crosby starts to proclaim: “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”No it’s not, Bing. It’s Nov. 14 with...

Tom’s tidbits for church leaders

Constant efforts by church leaders to meet their members’ personal tastes for worship styles and times can be exhausting. Tom Long, professor of preaching at Emory’s Candler School of Theology and author of Beyond the Worship Wars, has some good insights...

Thanks, Vineville

The name on the sign at the busy intersection of Vineville and Pierce Avenues in Macon, Ga., will change this week as Tripp Martin, a gifted young minister, assumes the pastorate of historic Vineville Baptist Church. For most of the year it has been my great pleasure...

Looking for local flavor

This past week, our 6th-grader Abigail wrote in an essay that she enjoys going to Chattanooga, Tenn., because they have really good restaurants not found anywhere else. I agree.In fact, I’ve long bemoaned the loss of local flavor. Once a Chicago native suggested...

Showing your age … in public

One generational shift seems to be less secrecy about age. Older adults seem more comfortable today beginning a sentence with: “Now that I’m 80…”An early lesson for most of us was the impropriety of asking an adult’s (especially a...