Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
We’re Human Becomings, Not Human Beings
Years ago, I attended a tedious and boring conference that I was delighted to see come to an end. I was ready to get back home, but, as bad luck would have it, my flight was delayed for a couple of hours as we waited...
War’s Hypocrisy: When Civilian Deaths Don’t Matter
On Nov. 18, just as another round of bloodletting between the Israelis and Palestinians got under way, 12 members of the Dalu family – seven of them children – in the Al Nasser neighborhood of Gaza City were killed by...
BWA, Nigerian Baptists Call for End to Nation’s Violence
At least two Baptist pastors have been killed and a number of Baptist properties destroyed in violent attacks by extremists in Nigeria. Olasupo Ayokunle, president and chief executive officer of the Nigerian Baptist...
Decorating solo
Christmas can be the happiest time of the year, or the hardest. The season comes with so many cultural trappings, childhood memories, and family dynamics that it can be an emotional minefield. Some people love it,...
This Year, Give the Gift of Hope
A sermon delivered by Robert Browning, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Frankfort, Ky., on December 2, 2012. Jeremiah 33:14-16 If you are a serious Christmas shopper, you are a list maker. If you are really serious, you...
The End of the World As We Know It
A sermon delivered by Jim Somerville, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va., on December 2, 2012. Luke 21:25-36 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused...
Yearning for Righteousness at Advent
A sermon delivered by Wendell Griffen, Pastor, New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Ark., on December 2, 2012. Jeremiah 33:14-16 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the...
Your Church’s Stewardship: Building Barns or Serving Tables
In an excellent sermon, New York City pastor Alan Sherouse suggested that a most appropriate stewardship metaphor for a New Testament church is that of a table. Sherouse specifically referred to the round tables that...
A Theology of Social Media
Editor's note: This is the third column in a three-part series. Read part one here and part two here. Easter 1997, and I was at an academic conference on the theme "The Communication of God." A Jewish philosopher was...
Skype Interview: Wade Bibb on Preaching with an iPad
Apple has sold more than 100 million iPads; one of them was bought by Central Baptist Church of Bearden, Tenn. The reason: a gift to Senior Pastor Wade Bibb on his first anniversary at the Knoxville church. Bibb took...
Let’s travel!
By John Pierce It’s time to pack our bags, and get ready to go. The destination is familiar; we go there every year. Grandma’s house? No, the larger and much grander experience of Christmas. But to arrive...
A different kind of progress?
The Church of England is continuing to struggle in the backwash after a recent attempt to approve women bishops was sunk when it narrowly failed to win approval from the General Synod's laity arm after the bishops,...
2 Reasons Why You Should Take Advent Seriously
This Sunday is the first Sunday of the season of Advent. The word "Advent" means "arrival" or "coming." During the four weeks of Advent, we anticipate the celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas, the second...
“Life of Pi”
I have not enjoyed many of the movies that have come to us in the 3-D format; there are too many hokey effects, the screen is too dark. But then some filmmakers use it as more than just a faddish attempt to make more...
George McGovern Proven the Winner
His win was my loss. When George McGovern was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 1956, he asked Mr. Larson, my debate coach at Washington High School in Sioux Falls, S.D., to be his aide in...
Not From this World
A sermon delivered by Jim Somerville, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va., on November 25, 2012. Christ the King Sunday John 18:33-37 Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, "Are you...
God’s Kingdom: Practicing Peace
A sermon delivered by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo., on November 25, 2012. Christ the King Sunday John 18:33-37 2 Samuel 23:1-7; Psalm 132:1-12 (13-18); Revelation 1:4b-8 The...
God, The King, and Us
A sermon delivered by Wendell Griffen, Pastor, New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Ark., on November 25, 2012. Revelation 1:4b-8 4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is...
Where Are the Other Nine?
A sermon delivered by Michael Cheuk, Pastor, University Baptist Church, Charlottesville, Va., on November 25, 2012. Luke 17:11-19 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and...
Good Standing and Great Boldness
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on November 25, 2012. Deacon Ordination and Installation Psalm 67:1-7; 1 Timothy 3:8-13 I wonder, whenever Paul took his...
Why Western Christians Forget Palestinian Christians
Palestinian Christians are a forgotten people. They are the Christians in the world that other Christians have almost completely forgotten or don't even acknowledge exist. The recent conflict in the Middle East makes...