Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Look and Remember, See and Wonder
A sermon by Michael Cheuk, Pastor, University Baptist Church, Charlottesville, Va. Luke 24:1-12; Acts 10:34-43 We’ve finally come to the most holy day in our Christian faith, a day that we have anticipated through the...
Lord of All
A sermon by Jim Somerville, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va. Easter Sunday Acts 10:34-43 Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who...
The Eighth Day
A sermon by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo. Easter Sunday Luke 24:1-12 Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Acts 10:34-43; I Corinthians 15:19-26 Interesting, but the Bible never uses the word...
Lush Lebanon Valley is Nightmare for Syrian Refugees
The Beqaa Valley in Lebanon is beautiful. It's flat, lush, green and very pretty. I was there in February and we drove along long, open country roads, passing vineyards and fields. It was a bit like being on holiday...
An Ordinary Hotel Room Gives Birth to Redemption
It was just an ordinary hotel room the night before - two beds, a television, a couple of chairs, a forgettable print of some unknown artwork and a Gideon's Bible in the bedside table - but something was different that...
Palestinian Christian Struggles with Zionists’ Support for Israel
"You are anti-Semitic," the gentleman said when I told him that the reason for Christian emigration from Bethlehem was not only due to Islamic pressure but also to the occupation and the economic situation. In 1948,...
Well I’ll swan …
You may have to be of a certain age, or have grown up in a certain region of the country, to be familiar with "I'll swan" as a pious euphemism for "I'll swear," used mainly as a colorful interjection. When I was a boy,...
Empowering Women in Nepal to Stand Against Traffickers
Slavery was abolished in the United Kingdom in 1833 and in the U.S. in 1865, yet the number of slaves in the world today ranges from 12 million to 27 million, and a large number of these are in South Asia. Recently, I...
What You Can Learn from Alzheimer’s Patients
As a pastor, I make calls on members in various kinds of care home facilities because these people are cut off from their church community. It is important for the church community to continue to minister to these...
Blaming Our Schools Doesn’t Solve Problems
I am a product of small-town public schools. As the battles rage over what is wrong with our schools and what makes for a good teacher, I think much can be learned from studying my hometown. Woodruff, S.C., is a small,...
5 Ways Your Church Can Discern Future Trends
The people of Issachar "had understanding of the times" (1 Chronicles 12:32) and were able to instruct Israel what to do. Wouldn't it be a blessing to have such a gift – to be able to understand exactly what is going...
Mission Work’s Success in Building Relationships
When I stepped off the plane in Nairobi, Kenya, I had no idea I would be embarking on one of the best experiences of my life. Last summer, I was blessed with the opportunity to join two other college students to...
Pope Francis Models Humility in World that Practices Humiliation
Pope Francis has identified Christianity with humility in the age of humiliation. At the Maundy Thursday Mass, Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 inmates at the Casal del Marmo prison, including the feet of two Muslims...
Someone remembered
I skipped church on Easter ... at least the regular sort, which is not to say I didn't experience some sense of church and community. While driving home from a visit with my parents, I stopped along a stretch of the...
Why Your Church Isn’t Like a Ford Model T
As a loyal member of Jayhawk Nation, I was crushed when Kansas University couldn't repeat its famous comeback of the 2008 NCAA championship against Kentucky last year. And within moments of Kentucky winning the title,...
Remembering Rachel: Fighting for Human Rights in Palestine
You may not have remembered her name, but perhaps you recall hearing about the young U.S. woman who was killed in 2003 by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip. Her life story is told in a one-woman play titled "My...
Offering Reconciliation Requires Vulnerability
In St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin hangs an ancient door with a rough hewn, rectangular opening hacked out in the center to commemorate a significant event. In 1492, two prominent Irish families, the Ormands and...
Is that any way to live?
By John Pierce A once stalwart of Christian fundamentalism, who discovered grace later in life, submitted a manuscript to our Nurturing Faith book publishing company several months ago. The book will be published in a...
What’s good about it?
On "Good Friday," I often contemplate the name we have given this day, a day one would think we might call "Black Friday" or something equally bleak. At least one explanation is that the name evolved from a Germanic...
4 Characteristics of Churches That Call New Leaders
Nearly all observers of the 21st-century church in America agree that the next generation of leadership is a cause for concern. Many write, blog, tweet and generally lament the state of leadership cultivation and...
Why You Should Be Glad Easter’s Always Moving
The Church Council that met in A.D. 325 in Nicaea, a city in northwest Asia Minor, determined that Easter Sunday would be observed on the first Sunday after the full moon that falls on or after March 21. That means...