Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
South Sudan Refugees Fleeing into Ethiopia
More than 350,000 refugees from the fighting in South Sudan are expected to flee across the border into Ethiopia in the coming months, according to Christian Aid, a Christian relief agency. Six camps in the Gambella...
4 Discipleship Lessons from a Global Perspective
The church has experienced dramatic growth in the global south over the past century, in contrast to much of the Western world. Yet there remains a challenge in terms of discipleship, as highlighted by the example of...
June 18, 2014
Alleged Church Ponzi Schemer Arrested on Federal Charges (ABC News) Brooklyn's Historic Churches Disappear to Make Way for Condos (DNAInfo) Baptists Discover Toddler Baptism (Patheos) Stop Calling Hobby Lobby a...
Which Way Does Your Ethical Thinking Point?
Sometimes my ethical thinking moves along a continuum with the question "How can I help you?" on one end and the pronouncement "Here's what's wrong with you" on the other. The question pulls me toward compassion and...
Even When You Face Unbearable Suffering, God’s Near
Anger at injustice is often undergirded by a sense of sadness that this is not the way God intended the world to be. There is value in stepping back to ask whether there is a theology that explains the realities of the...
How to Overcome the Challenges of Church Leadership
I have heard many tales of clergy being horribly treated by members of their congregations and have seen firsthand how poorly some of my clergy friends have been treated in my 20 years of bivocational ministry and 13...
June 17, 2014
Hobby Lobby Aims for Obamacare Win, Christian Nation (Politico) High Court Nixes Holding School Graduation in Church (USA Today) Meet the 'Evangelical' Catholics Who Are Remaking the GOP (Religion News Service) Phoenix...
Women’s Inequality: From the Pulpit and Beyond
I was initiated into adulthood through more than the traditional graduation from high school. I will never forget that summer because I was excited to be participating in the National American Baptist Youth Gathering...
South Sudan Needs Leaders Who Embrace Benevolence
I remember sometime in my educational process becoming aware of and wrestling with the term "benevolent dictator." As a Western, independent child of the Enlightenment, I had assumed all dictators were bad dictators. I...
How Will Your Church Respond to the Fire Below?
A primary issue we face in creating awareness is the burning platform syndrome. I mentioned this to a congregation's leadership team in preparation for making a presentation about the state of the church in U.S....
June 16, 2014
Lightning Strikes NC Church; Zaps Pianist (MyFox8) Florida Gov. Scott Signs Bill that Redefines State's Late Term Abortion Ban (Greenfield Reporter) Oklahoma Bible Class Scrutiny Continues (Mustang News) Cairo Man...
June 14, 2014
On the Southern Baptist Agenda: Get the Evangelizers Evangelizing (Washington Post) Frankie Schaeffer, Former Evangelical Leader, is a Self-Declared Atheist Who Believes in God (Huffington Post) David Brat Just Became...
A bad mix
Hypocrisy and willful blindness make a bad mix, especially in North Carolina budget writing. The Republican dominated legislature, which has run roughshod over the state's former progressive reputation for the past two...
“Left Behind” Movie, Books Aren’t All That Biblical
With the new "Left Behind" movie premiering this fall, many people are writing about the film and its theological implications. The film, and book series from which it is adapted, is built on a dispensational belief...
Anti-Catholicism: Early America’s Refining Religious Principle
Owen Stanwood's excellent book, "The Empire Reformed: English America in the Age of the Glorious Revolution," has taken me back to my own doctoral research and first book, "The Protestant Interest: New England after...
Mission Workers Help to Keep Mom, Daughter Together
Pain and sadness filled Thiri's voice as she told her story to the Compasio Community Team and BMS World Mission workers Brian and Lydia English. Though hearing through translation, the Englishes could see Thiri...
Church Just Happened
A sermon by Jim Somerville, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va. June 8, 2014 The Day of Pentecost Acts 2:1-21 In a way, the story of Pentecost is a ghost story. It’s about the coming of the one the King James...
Think About What You and God Can Do Together
A sermon by Bob Browning, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Frankfort, Ky. June 8, 2014 Acts 2:1-21; 1 Corinthians 12: 4-13 "If you can do it by yourself, it won’t be very big!” I still the remember the place and time my...
A Pentecost of Another Kind
A sermon by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ar. June 8, 2014 Pentecost Sunday Psalm 104:24-34; John 20:19-23 There is a tiny island off the western coast of Scotland, nestled in a...
Different Gifts, Common Good
A sermon by Michael Cheuk, Pastor, University Baptist Church, Charlottesville, Va. June 8, 2014. Acts 2:1-21; 1 Corinthians 12:3-13 For those of us who are parents, we remember the birth of our children....
A Joyful Noise
A sermon by Michael Cheuk, Pastor, University Baptist Church, Charlottesville, Va. June 1, 2014. Psalm 100 Ten or so years ago, we had a group of friends over for dinner. After dinner, all of the children decided to...