Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
What a Baptist Pastor Learned from a Catholic Priest
Psalm 133 joyfully declares, "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!" I have experienced this kind of pleasure whenever I get the opportunity to work with other clergy and Christians in...
Culture Bombards Women with Unattainable Images
There is nothing like turning 30 to make you take a long, hard look at your life. For me, and many women, that includes taking a long, hard look at my body. Things have changed. They will continue to change. After...
Faith Comes by Hearing
A sermon by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ar. June 2, 2013 Note: As a part of the church’s Centennial celebration, today was designated as Organ Sunday. Our music worship was centered...
Gospel of Grace
A sermon by Michael Cheuk, Pastor, University Baptist Church, Charlottesville, Va., on June 2, 2013. Galatians 1:1-12 When was the last time you got a letter in the mail? A real letter -- not a bill, not business...
Bonfire of the Deities
A sermon by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo. The Second Sunday of Pentecost I Kings 18:20-21 (22-29) 30-39 June 2, 2013 Psalm 96; Galatians 1:1-12; Luke 7:1-10 In matters of history,...
Truth
A sermon by David Hughes, Pastor First Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, N.C. May 26, 2013 Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-34; John 16:12-15 It’s one thing to say something is true. It’s quite another to live like it. Every year...
If “Not yet,” when?
By John Pierce Patience is one of life’s biggest challenges. At least it is for some of us. Recently I visited an Atlanta-area retirement community to participate in a book signing for Walker Knight, founding...
WCC Assembly in Korea to Urge Pursuit of Peace, Justice
Many mainline denominational churches, such as the Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Methodists, are struggling to survive in North America. For example, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America began with...
The One Mission Field Overlooked By Many Churches
Lesslie Newbigin, a Christian missiologist, was ahead of the curve when he wrote in 1986 about the need for "a theology that has been wrought out at the coal face, at the place where faith wrestles at personal cost...
Don’t Let Rude Words Hit Their Target
I am always surprised when someone speaks rudely. Most of the time, people speak either kindly or at least neutrally. Rudeness catches me off guard. Back before everyone had cell phones, I had to drive to visit a...
Someone I wish I’d known …
Will Campbell, a maverick Baptist preacher who'd stand up to anybody for the sake of people on the margins, died Monday night, at age 88. In this strip, Will B. Dunn looked forward to a day when there would be peace...
One Catholic Theologian’s Impression of Pope Francis
The names of Catholic theologian Hans Küng and Pope Francis are both in the news because Küng was sighted saying friendly things about the pope, and the pope was apparently saying friendly things about God and...
Skype Interview: Grace Ji-Sun Kim on the Korean Church
The largest Pentecostal church in the world is in Seoul, South Korea, and it represents a vibrant Christianity in this country of some 50 million people. Grace Ji-Sun Kim, associate professor of doctrinal theology at...
Why Christians Must Seek Civility in Communication
A group of 25 religious leaders met in Washington, D.C., recently to promote civil discourse. They wanted to turn down the harshness of the rhetoric in our nation's capital. Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding...
10 Signs Your Church May Be an ‘Oxbow Lake’ Church
A friend was recently talking about an organization that is struggling to adapt to some very necessary changes. While not a church, the observation she made about their inability to adjust to a changing world rings...
Will Moderate Baptists Break Silence on Abortion?
Since the massacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, the subject of gun control has dominated political discussions. In recent weeks, however, the trial of Kermit Gosnell...
What’s a True Definition of Friendship?
She said that she was a friend of a U.S. school in another city in Greece and wanted to sell me tickets to a country-western barbecue fundraiser for scholarships. In a traffic jam of instant mental images, synaptic...
The Prophets “ Performing Artists, Not Authors
Our subject is nothing less than that brilliant fusion of divination and imagination known as classical Hebrew prophecy in which a succession of folk performers over the course of two centuries (about 740-540 B.C.)...
When You See Life’s Harsh Realities, Imagine Better
In the last few weeks, I have been taken with the photography of Matej Peljhan. In particular, his most recent collection, which he has titled "Le Petit Prince" based on the famous French book "The Little Prince"...
Why We Need to Ensure All Companies Pay Their Taxes
Tweeting from my iPad that multinational companies should pay their taxes in full seemed a little hypocritical, so I thought I'd write about it (using my PC, powered by Microsoft software produced by a company that has...
Much ado about zero.
I ran across a couple of interesting posts this week. In the first, science writer Amir Aczel reported on "How I Rediscovered the Oldest Zero in History." Inscription K-127, from Sambor on Mekong. Photo Credit: Debra...