Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Save the WHAT?
AP photo from foxnews.com, weapons from a gun buy-back program in Trenton, NJ.It's enough to make you puke. As if North Carolina's super-majority right-wing legislature hasn't done enough to flaunt its power and make...
Classified information
By John Pierce Classified advertising in our print news journal and online often helps ministers to know about open places of ministry. Our managing editor Jackie Riley does a good job of encouraging churches and other...
6 Rules for Pastors Before Posting That Blog
Before social media, a "snail mail" letter to the editor of your local newspaper was about the only way to make your voice heard. Now Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, WordPress and Google+ make it easy for...
Keeping the Lamp of the Affordable Care Act Lit
The parable in Luke 15:8-10 has to be one of the shortest Jesus shared with his listeners. It's the one about the woman who loses one of her 10 coins and scours her residence to find it. When the lost coin is found,...
Skype Interview: Mandy McMichael on Beauty Pageants, Religion
When ABC broadcasts the Miss America pageant this Sunday evening from Atlantic City, N.J., Mandy McMichael will be taking notes in Montgomery, Ala. McMichael, assistant professor of religion at Huntingdon College in...
Two by Two
A sermon by Jim Somerville, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va. September 8, 2013 One Sunday Luke 10:1-11, 17-20 Today we come to the end of a year-long, every-member mission trip called KOH2RVA, which has been...
What is the Most Shocking Thing Jesus Said?
A sermon by Robert Browning, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Frankfort, Ky. September 8, 2013 Luke 14:25-33 If the words in today’s text don’t disturb you, I’m not sure you have read them carefully or taken them...
The Season of Generosity
A sermon by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo. The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost Luke 14:25-33 September 8, 2013 Jeremiah 18:1-11; Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18; Philemon 1-21 Welcome to the...
Disparity and despair
The current income disparity in the U.S. is enough to make most anyone despair -- at least those outside the top ten percent. The rich have made out like bandits during the recovery from our most recent greed-induced...
Fashion’s True Cost Affects Impoverished Workers
"Everywhere was dark. It was like laying down in the grave," says Mona (names have been changed throughout to protect identities), a victim of the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh. "We thought it was the end of our...
Our Abundance Blinds Us to Cost of Climate Change
The extraordinary and history-making cold spell we experienced in Georgia several weeks ago reminded me of a time when one of my good friends posted on Facebook. The gist of the comment was that with all this cold...
Thousands View Kerry Discussing Syria on Google Hangout
Secretary of State John Kerry appeared in a Google Hangout Tuesday afternoon to discuss the United States and Syria. The appearance drew nearly 7,000 Google+ users to the online platform. A Google Hangout is portrayed...
Myth: Attendance Dips Because Churches Aren’t Practical
A prevailing myth today is that church attendance is declining because churches and seminaries are not practical enough. The truth is that church attendance is declining at a time when churches are more practical than...
You Don’t Have to Agree to Live in Harmony
Pachebel's "Canon" is one of my favorite pieces of music. My wife, Debbie, and I used it as the prelude at our wedding, which, for me, gives it additional affective power. Early in my days at a church I pastored in...
Blaming Church Becomes Default Position for Many
It's becoming fashionable to condemn and criticize the church. It's popular, and you'll get a following if you do it long and loud enough. It's becoming a favorite pastime of folks who are dealing with how the church...
You May Be Smart But That Doesn’t Make You Moral
In "Sighing for Eden," William Willimon tells a story about a young man riding his bike who was forced off the road and into a ditch by a passing car. What disturbed the bike rider most was not the actions of the...
Rampant Consumerism Feeds Injustices But Do We Care?
I preached a sermon recently about shopping (heard many of those?), and so it's fair to say my mind has been pretty focused on the topic. We all shop, and most of us do it more than we need to. It's become an obsession...
Older Congregations Still Have Much to Offer
I reflected recently on common issues smaller churches raise about why they are not able to do more than they are doing. It is important to note that many of these issues are true and valid, but that does not mean...
Heads up …
"Green," by Nathan SawayaHere's a double-entendre for you -- haven't we all felt like this guy at some point? As if we wanted to just rip our heads right off? And the other side of the heads up: if you'd like to see...
War of Words Precedes Real War
Before a conflict begins on an international scale, there is always the "war of words." Some of the most important words in global history involve presidents, kings or prime ministers framing the need to go to war....
How You Can Make Someone’s Day Better in 21 Seconds
"It only takes 21 seconds to be kind to someone." That's what Wayne Soares told a Boys and Girls Club in Boston. Soares, a former sports broadcaster on ESPN Radio and Fox Sports, is now an author and motivational...