Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Bridging the Great Divide in Evangelical Churches
One of the dismaying trends within evangelical Protestantism in America is the growing divide between those evangelicals who emphasize the church's responsibility to proclaim a gospel of individual conversion and those...
Experiences await us
By John D. Pierce Tomorrow begins back-to-back Nurturing Faith Experiences to the beautiful Rocky Mountains in northern Montana, led by Bruce Gourley, our local Montanan and guide extraordinaire. We look forward to...
How Jewish Burials are Actually Green Burials Too
How much do we really know about Jewish burials? What effect are they having on the environment? Is this an important conversation for us to have? A few things really struck me from Richard Conniff's recent opinion...
Internally Displaced Persons ‘Left Behind’ by Aid Efforts
Roughly 40 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) are currently in 50 nations, according to a United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report. Displaced by conflict, impacts of...
August 4, 2017
Christians are More Than Twice as Likely to Blame a Person’s Poverty on Lack of Effort (Washington Post) He Once Said Mothers Do Not Belong in State Office. Now He Leads the Trump Cabinet in Bible Study (Los Angeles...
Read all about it!
By John D. Pierce The September/October issue of Nurturing Faith Journal is hot off the press. It features my conversation with the insightful and inspiring Guy Sayles of Asheville, N.C. Astrophysicist Paul Wallace...
When You Plant Mustard Seeds at a Klan Rally
A group affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan came to my town of Charlottesville, Virginia, on July 8. They came to protest the planned removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee in one of our city parks. I'm part of the...
What Will Rule Your Heart? Fear or Faith
Fear, it seems to me, has always been a dominant force - perhaps one of the most powerful motivating factors in many of our attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Even for those of us professing faith in Christ - whose love...
August 3, 2017
Serving God by Suing Others: Inside the Christian Conservative Legal Movement (RNS) Generosity Gap: Christians and Pastors Tithe and Tip for Different Reasons (Christianity Today) Man Creates Bible Verse Bracelets to...
Profiles in Goodwill: Steven Porter
Steven Porter is coordinator for global missions at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. 1. Where did you grow up? Carthage, Missouri. 2. What is your favorite verse, book or story in the Bible? Why? 2 Corinthians 5:19....
Why That Sure-Fire Church Program Misses Your Target
Have you ever wondered why a sure-fire church program works well in one church, but not another? Here's my take on that phenomena with insight from the story of Abraham and Ishmael. God made a promise to Abraham. "'You...
August 2, 2017
Religious Right Lobbyists are Lone Supporters of Texas’ Bathroom Bill (San Antonio Current) American Muslims are Now More Accepting of Homosexuality Than White Evangelicals (Huffington Post) As Artificial Intelligence...
Down in the valley
By John D. Pierce Grief is a deep valley that calls for more than shallow responses. Easy answers, bad theology and one-size-fits-all prescriptions for dealing with grief compound rather than relieve the pain. Rooted...
What’s in a Name? Baptist Expansion in Global South
I recently published a piece in The Christian Century on what I called the "Baptist Exception." Unlike virtually all Christian churches and denominations, Baptists are not witnessing a fundamental shift of numbers to...
Why Did Church Stop Being a Place to be Vulnerable?
One of the joys of being a pastor is that I get invited into some very sacred spaces. I'm not talking about actual places or buildings, but the inner experience of individuals, the holiest of holy places where people...
August 1, 2017
Trump Cabinet Members Get Together for Weekly Bible Study (USA Today) Brownback Nomination Further Evidence that ‘Religious Freedom’ is Code for ‘Conservative Christian Supremacy’ (Religion Dispatches) Trump’s Pick for...
Race’s Negative Impact on Authentic Christian Community
One of my deepest grievances is the witness of the church in North America as a new, transformed and reconciled community. I understand that the colonialized practice of Christianity did much to disturb a proper...
Liberia’s Future Looks Increasingly Prosperous, Peaceful
The Republic of Liberia has just celebrated its 170th Independence Day, having become an independent nation on July 26, 1847. The American Colonization Society (ACS) was established in 1816. Its purpose was to support...
July 31, 2017
Outlaw Pastor Rob Bell Shakes up the Bible Belt (CNN) Baptist Church in Mississippi Refused to Marry Couple Because They’re Black (Wisconsin Gazette) Rev. Jesse Jackson Visits Richmond Church to Encourage Political...
Patience and payoffs: when the old becomes new
By John D. Pierce Downtown Macon, Ga., has seen many of its historic structures returned to life in recent years — and Frank and Susan Broome have certainly done their part. Their restoration of four older homes near...
Books that make us better
By John D. Pierce Nurturing Faith keeps rolling out books that are inspiring and informative — that make us better as we seek to grow, learn and live in purposeful ways. The latest two to roll off these presses are...