Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
How Your Church Can Help Our Society Trust Again
It takes three years for a church to trust a new pastor. That was the estimate provided by a seminary professor whose information seemed out of date even in the early 2000s. It takes about six years currently. There...
Despite What Churches Think, Bigger Isn’t Better
I was sitting in a ministers' fellowship of Baptists, Anglicans, Methodists, Salvation Army and Pentecostals. It must have been the best part of 40 years ago, but I remember it well. We always tried to be inclusive and...
March 2, 2015
Downtown Raleigh Sees First Church Built in 50 Years (News Observer) Afternoon Church Fits Orlando's 24/7 Economy (Orlando Sentinel) Our Lady of Revenue: NYC Churches on the Market (USA Today) Alabama is the Most...
But are they really Muslims?
The savage inhumanity of ISIS's brutal ideologues continued to manifest itself this week as the organization kidnapped hundreds of Christians to be used, abused, and possibly beheaded in a sneering show of radical...
‘Caving into culture’ is often needed
By John Pierce Whenever a hot-button issue arises within the larger society, as well as within church life, there are those who charge proponents of social change with abandoning the Bible and caving into culture. One...
To Find Your Voice, Listen to God
I hear people refer to finding their voice occasionally. So how does a person find his or her voice? How do you know when you have something to say others need to hear? Perhaps Simon Peter, the leader of Jesus'...
Living Wages: How to Match Ideals to Reality
"Wages of Sin" read the headline of a report that the Church of England does not pay all of its employees a living wage. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby called it an embarrassing reality and noted that Canterbury...
5 Reasons “We Cannot Bomb Our Way to Peace”
Casual conversation became somber and serious at a recent dinner party I attended when a dinner guest asked, "What do you think followers of Jesus should do about ISIS?" After a moment of silence, one woman responded,...
February 27, 2015
In God We Trust: Scholars Say Motto Cheapens Religion, Violates Jesus's Teaching (Oregon Live) Supreme Court to Hear Religious Freedom Case (CNN) Pew Study of Religion Finds Increased Harassment of Jews (National...
The Key to Successful Leadership in Small Churches
Everything is about relationships in a small church. Small churches are family churches. Sometimes the membership is made up primarily of two to four families who are related through blood or marriage. The matriarchs...
Why Churches Must Assist in Ferguson’s Healing
Community relations have changed since Michael Brown was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson more than six months ago. There has been an increase in discussions about how police patrol urban communities. There has...
Lessons You Can Learn from Anti-Beatitudes
What insight would be gained from reversing the beatitudes or blessings Jesus offers in the Sermon on the Mount? I was researching the Beatitudes for a sermon a few years ago when I came across the writings of St....
February 26, 2015
Republican Majority Would Support Christianity as 'National Religion' (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) If Alabamians Won't Get Therapy, Are Southern Baptists to Blame? (AL.com) Wheaton College Student Attacked for...
Snowbirds
There's no business like snow business when it comes to turning schedules upside down. Schools from counties around all around are getting blasted for calling off class, for not calling off class, or for sending out...
Responding to Asylum Seekers with Hospitality
As worldwide conflict proliferates, the flow of asylum seekers to Australia and other nations around the world is not predicted to ease in the foreseeable future. There are some important facts to consider when...
True Christian Virtues Rising From the Ashes
I typically don't think much about ashes except for Ash Wednesday. Last week, I participated in a strange, ancient ritual in which I smeared some ashes in the shape of a cross on peoples' foreheads and said something...
Christ Came to Save More Than the World’s People
Numerous groups and individuals today are challenging us in regard to our relationship to mother earth, urging us to be less blind, less unthinking and less reckless in terms of how we relate to the earth. Every day...
February 25, 2015
At Supreme Court, Fashion Collides With Religion in Headscarf Case (NPR) Republicans Propose Declaring Idaho a 'Christian' State (Reuters) 'Bigotry Map' of America Leaves Out Several Alabama Groups, Atheists Say...
Iraq’s Religious, Ethnic Minorities Face Genocide
Religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq are living at the edge of extinction. They are marginalized and under threat from the genocidal actions of the Islamic State in Iraq, resulting in the purging of religious and...
Measured Thought vs. Shooting from the Hip
Woodworking guru Norm Abram of The New Yankee Workshop popularized an old English proverb: "Measure twice, cut once." Anyone who has even dabbled in woodworking or carpentry knows the wisdom of that saying. Remember...
Which Is Better: Small Churches or Big Churches?
Is it easier to live out biblical Christianity in a small church or a big church? Before engaging this question, it should be noted that there are healthy and unhealthy big and small churches. What I'm comparing are...