Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Presidential Candidates Battle for Godly Image
As the growing field of presidential candidates competes for attention and money, faith voters remain particularly targeted. Among the 10 official Republican candidates, about half are explicitly positioning themselves...
June 11, 2015
Southern Baptists See 8th Year of Membership Decline (ABC News) Missouri Baptist Convention Grateful to Help Host David Barton; Christian Historians Disagree (Patheos) Evangelist Franklin Graham's Move to Pull Money...
No Matter Where You Serve in Church, We’re All Together
You would think moving people from serving their church in its traditional organized functions (like the worship service, discipleship and internally organized justice programs) to serving in the neighborhood in...
4 Ways for Bivocational Ministers to Find Balance
The economic challenges facing future ministers was the topic of conversation during a recent gathering of clergy and laity that I attended. The conversation was both broad and deep, for each person brought unique...
Praise Be for Pope Francis’ Encyclical on Climate Change
Pope Francis' encyclical on the environment will be released on June 18, according to the Vatican press office. The letter's Italian title is "Laudato Si: Sulla cura della casa comune," which in English is "Be Praised:...
Broadening the Horizons of Our Faith Tradition
Richard Young, one of the pioneers of clinical pastoral education, offered a cryptic expression of the ethical perspective with which we seem to enter this world. "I want what I want when I want it," he said 50 years...
2 Cultural Blinders Worn by U.S. Evangelicals
Collin Hansen's new book, "Blind Spots," has initiated a helpful conversation about what American evangelicals conventionally miss when their faith is defined by insular, America-intensive subcultures. I found...
The Difference Between True and False Worship
I have recently started re-reading Leviticus. You enter into a strange world, an alien culture of sacrifice. ¨It is hard not only getting your head around the ritual, but also trying to understand how any of this could...
June 9, 2015
Some Evangelicals Take New Look at Bible's Stance on Gays (New York Times) Tony Campolo Calls for Full Acceptance of Same-Sex Couples (Baptist News Global) S.C. Evangelicals Aim to Revive the Religious Right as...
Bye, bye, bluebird …
One of the joys of late spring can be found flitting about the trees. Our backyard is typically populated by robins, thrashers, wrens, towhees, chickadees, sparrows, cardinals, woodpeckers, and doves, with a few other...
What Role Do Faith-Based Groups Play in Humanitarian Aid?
Effectively responding to global crises requires greater awareness of religion's influence in shaping people and culture as well as recognition of faith-based organizations' (FBOs) role in providing humanitarian aid....
Being Braver, More Faithful with Communion
Debates about communion usually focus on two important areas: the nature of the event and the question of who can participate. The nature of the event will involve considerations such as what we believe about the bread...
June 8, 2015
Saddleback Raising $71 Million for its Largest Expansion (Orange County Register) Craft Beer Meets Religion in Colorado (WTSP) Rev. Dr. Gregory Thomas, Dead at 67; Longtime Haverhill Pastor (Boston Globe) Christie to...
U.S. Majority Favors Avenues for Undocumented to Remain Legally
A strong majority in the United States supports avenues to legal status for undocumented immigrants currently living in the country, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Seventy-two percent of respondents...
Will Your Church Turn the World Upside Down?
If asked to identify a favorite New Testament character, most of us go with the predictable and obvious: Barnabas, Mary, Nathaniel, Peter, Lydia, Timothy or Phoebe. Let me remind you of an obscure character who can...
June 5, 2015
Duggar Parents Address '19 Kids and Counting' Scandal in Interview (CNN) Recover the Balance Between Service and Evangelism, Theologians Say (Baptist News Global) Southern Baptist Pastor in Spotlight for Baccalaureate...
Why Few Christians Know What It Means to be One
I carried a briefcase with files, books and documents whenever I traveled to meetings away from home before my files resided in the digital cloud. Prominently paper-clipped inside my briefcase on a small piece of paper...
Is Your Church Doing Mission or Marketing?
I believe there is nothing more significant that a Christian can do than introduce a fellow human being to the message and person of Jesus. There is no more important task for a local church than to help people...
Hide-and-Seekers: How Transparent is Your Church?
I was chatting recently with a Christian magazine editor and the subject of the "nones" came up. The question on everyone's mind, of course, is how to attract "nones" back to church, or at least how to keep millennials...
June 4, 2015
Martin Luther King Jr.'s Former Montgomery Church Seeking to Erect Statue in His Honor (AL.com) Leaving Baptist in Your Name Won't Scare People Away (Christianity Today) Southern Baptist Seminary President Joins...
Making the Poor Part of Our Lives – Part 2
The "least of these my brothers" ("adelphoi" in Greek) historically has been a controversial phrase in Matthew 25:40. Some have argued (the particularist interpretation) that because Jesus often referred to his...