Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Let’s Build on the Good of Thanksgiving Day for the Good for Our Neighbors
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. We gather as families, remember the pilgrims, recall the faith of our ancestors, count our blessings, give thanks for our freedom. Many will have engaged in charitable acts...
November 25, 2015
'Christian Gap' Between Democrats, Republicans Widening, Research Shows (Christian Post) Pew: White Christian No Longer a Majority (Politico) In Richmond, Church Where Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis Attended Will...
Former ISIS Captive: ‘They Fear Our Unity’
Nicolas Hénin is a Frenchman who was held in captivity in Syria for 10 months by ISIS. He was tormented, among others, by "Jihadi John," who was killed last week in an airstrike. I read a piece in The Guardian about...
IMB Spending Claims to Justify Layoffs Don’t Match Audits: Part 2
David Platt, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board (IMB), announced in August plans to eliminate 600 to 800 missionary positions due to a $210 million spending deficit. However,...
How Ministers Can Beat Feelings of Exhaustion
A friend recently shared with me a daily devotion that pointed out the story in Exodus 17 regarding Moses' arms. As long as Moses held his staff with his arms aloft, the Israelites prevailed in their battle with...
November 24, 2015
Rev. Bob Shrum Leaves a Lasting Legacy at Oakland Baptist (The Herald, SC) After Pastor Weds Same-Sex Couple, Southern Baptist Association Votes to Sever Ties With Greenville Church (Greenville Online) SMU Religion...
‘What Makes Churches Grow?’
Church growth is back on the agenda - not the 1970s variety from the U.S., but rather the new style espoused by the Church of England. I had the joy of reading recently "What Makes Churches Grow? Vision and Practice in...
No Easy Answer for Ministers Paying Off Debt
Finances have long been a source of conflict in many clergy homes. Few people go into the ministry with the thought of becoming wealthy, but many are not prepared for the reality of what churches provide in the way of...
IMB Spending Claims to Justify Layoffs Don’t Match Audits: Part 1
David Platt, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board (IMB), announced in August plans to eliminate 600 to 800 missionary positions due to a $210 million spending deficit. However,...
November 23, 2015
North Carolina Baptist Association Develops Solar Farm (WRAL) Male-Dominated Theological Society Affirms Marriage Inequality (Christian Post) Republican Candidates Talk Religion, Security at Iowa Forum (Waterloo Cedar...
Positivity
I always enjoy attending the annual Society of Biblical Literature meeting (this year in Atlanta), but when days are long and folks get tired, it's easy to become a bit ill. I'm not ordinarily a cantankerous person,...
Mind-stretching
I figure it's always helpful to hang out with people who know more than me, and the annual American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature meeting gives me a chance to be a small shell floating around in a...
November 21, 2015
Donald Trump Doubles Down on Registering Muslims (The Atlantic) Carson: U.S. Should Have a Database on All Immigrants (Politico) Evangelicals are Torn About Admitting Refugees to the U.S. (Sojourners) In France,...
Global Majority Supports Freedom of Expression with Certain Qualifications
A global majority supports wide-ranging freedoms of expression, including religious liberty, according to a Pew Research Center report. Among the 38 nations surveyed, a median of 56 percent of survey participants...
Why Your Church Must Affirm Ministry of Many, Not One
Celebrating the "big moments" in the life of a local church or a pastor's ministerial journey is part of my work as a regional denominational leader. I was asked recently to represent the American Baptist Churches New...
How Nominalism Has Poisoned Western Civilization
I agree with the late Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar that the rise of nominalism in especially Western cultures has been a "catastrophe." As Balthasar explained in his manifesto, "The God Question and...
November 20, 2015
The Rise of Church Conversion Projects in Washington (Washington Business Journal) How People Can View Religion from Space – Trends in Global Fires (Deseret News National) U.S. Criticizes Israel's Sentence for...
November 19, 2015
Jeb Bush Would Back Refugees Who 'Prove' They're Christian (MSNBC) Lindsey Graham Mocks Kasich's Proposed Judeo-Christian Government Agency (Politico) Alabama Southern Baptists Knock Gay Marriage, Call for Ban on...
Responding to Refugees: A Delicate Balance of Compassionate Welcome and Border Control
Responses to the Paris attacks, after an immediate unity of shock and sympathy, have been widespread and wide-ranging. Thoughts and prayers, condolences and other expressions of sympathy were the immediate response of...
Should We Balance Our Budgets on Backs of Elderly?
A.J. Heschel wrote 50 years ago about how to assess culture and society, and he is more right now than he was even then. "A test of a people is how it behaves toward the old," he said. "It is easy to love children....
Was Missions Work Liberating for Women?
Was missionary work liberating for women? It depended. "Multiple freedoms and multiple opportunities reinforced each other," writes historian Jane Smith in "The Gospel of Gentility," "and [female missionaries]...