Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Self-Absorbed Churches Observe Half the Gospel
One of the polarities every minister must navigate is between ministry within the congregation and ministry in the surrounding community. Is the minister called to serve the members of the local church exclusively, or...
Churches Should No Longer Tolerate Loneliness
Last Sunday in worship, I mentioned the parable of the lost sheep found in Luke 15:1-7. This is the story where the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to go find the one that strayed. I commented that this is what God is...
Skype Interview: Mandy McMichael on Miss America “Firsts”
The Miss America pageant crowned its first Indian-American winner Sunday night, and "Twitter blew up," says Mandy McMichael, assistant professor of religion at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala. McMichael is a...
Search and Rescue
A sermon by Robert Browning, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Frankfort, Ky. September 15, 2013 Luke 15:1-10 This morning, Luke takes us to the Lost and Found section of his gospel when he shares two parables Jesus told...
An Extravagant God
A sermon by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ar. September 15, 2013 Psalm 14:1-7; Luke 15:1-10 There are three parables in the fifteenth chapter of Luke’s gospel....
Lost and Found
A sermon by Michael Cheuk, Pastor, University Baptist Church, Charlottesville, Va. September 15, 2013. Luke 15:1-10 Lost and Found. We’ve all experienced losing and finding things in our lives. Yes? Allow me to do a...
Cost of Discipleship
A sermon by Michael Cheuk, Pastor, University Baptist Church, Charlottesville, Va. September 8, 2013. Luke 14:25-33 Most of us have heard of Dale Carnegie’s famous book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, written...
Steve Jobs: A Paradigm for Church Leadership
Last Tuesday, another Apple product release came and went, leaving critics and consumers wanting. With consumers less than wowed by this latest release, many are wondering if Apple has lost its ability to amaze. As a...
3 Steps Will Help Churches Achieve Their Calling
In college, I took an Old Testament course that challenged me to think of Genesis 1 not as a sweet fairy-tale or myth, but rather a very intentional, nuanced and structured environment that took fully into account the...
Miss America Pageant’s Many Unnoticed Positives
Sunday night I settled in with a notebook and pen to watch Miss America, just as I have for the past several years. In 2011, I had the opportunity to attend the 90th anniversary pageant in person in Las Vegas, but a...
“You Live by the Gun, You Die by the Gun”
I remember one day when my father showed me a black-and-white photo of him and his buddies from his high-school days. They were all Italian – bred and raised in a typical 1950s neighborhood in Brooklyn, N.Y. Dad showed...
Excellent Documentary Still Misreads Apostle Paul
I've greatly enjoyed the first couple of episodes of Simon Schama's "Story of the Jews" currently airing on BBC-2. Schama is a wonderful storyteller and he knows how to make his subject matter compelling and memorable....
Small Churches and the Fear of Losing People
I received a call recently from a leader in a small church about an ongoing problem in their church. A controller continued to create problems in the church that resulted in people leaving. Unfortunately, this is not...
Some days …
Some days it's hard to write, especially when I feel that I have nothing to say. Today is not one of those days, but it's still hard to write, largely because I've already said what I want to say about the wild lunacy...
Syria Reveals Ethical Burden of Global Citizenship
The "Syria issue" is so complex and volatile that any reflection on it is likely to be outdated by the time it is expressed. That being said, the discussion of the issue has illustrated pretty clearly the burden of...
ISAAC Project Opens Center to Help Immigrants
The Immigration Service and Aid Center (ISAAC) opened its doors on the Baptist University of the Américas (BUA) campus Aug. 30 to directly help people with their citizenship issues. ISAAC is Texas Baptists' first...
Proverbs Are Building Blocks for Wise Living, a Good Moral Life
BBC News' Africa page has a gem of a moral resource. It offers almost every day an African proverb. For example, a recent proverb from the Ashanti people, many of whom live in Ghana, read, "One who climbs a good tree...
Ark. School Misses Chance to Teach Understanding
Fox16.com in Arkansas reported that the Sheridan School District in Sheridan, Ark., withdrew the invitation extended to a Muslim man to speak at the district's middle school on Sept. 11 due to parental outrage. The...
Will Peace Without Justice Solve Israel-Palestine Conflict?
I just happened to be in Jerusalem on the day that Secretary of State John Kerry announced the resumption of peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. My two-week visit was made possible by the Shalom...
BWA: Urgent Help Needed for Displaced Syrians
The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is appealing to Baptist organizations, churches and individuals to make generous contributions to help displaced Syrians affected by the Middle Eastern country's civil war. "As...