Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Going or Staying
A sermon delivered by Wendell Griffen, Pastor, New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Ark., on August 26, 2012 John 6:56-69 56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living...
What Should We Do?
A sermon delivered by Jim Somerville, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va., on August 26, 2012. The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 28:19-20 Last week I tried to answer the question of why we are here,...
Heaven Touching Earth
A sermon delivered by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo., on August 26, 2012. The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost I Kings 8:1-6, 10-11, 22-30, 41-43 In the old days of rotary...
Letting off steam
My longtime friend and colleague Bruce Gourley owns the popular website yellowstone.net. He makes regular visits into Yellowstone National Park from his home in Bozeman, Montana. While visiting with Bruce earlier this...
Trouble at Church? The Cavalry Ain’t Coming
The seasoned minister was addressing a group of young clergy about some of the lessons learned on the job. You know, the ones you can't learn in graduate school or from a book. These are the ones that matter most. One...
Spiritual Training and Soul Care for Texas Prisoners
Robert Parham recently interviewed former president Jimmy Carter on Christians' moral responsibility regarding just treatment of prisoners. Carter lamented that Christians are often more focused on retribution than on...
British Church to House Women Beating Addictions
A Baptist church in Great Britain will open a house for women as they leave a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. Norwich Central Baptist Church, about 100 miles northeast of London, will open a house it owns in...
Spiritual women
Readers who aren't on George Barna's email list might be interested to know of a recent series of surveys his organization has done on the views and feelings of Christian women. For the purposes of the telephone...
How Worry Will Sideline You From God’s Best for You
When Anne Lamott was expecting her son, Sam, she realized how much she feared that she would be unable to provide adequately for his needs. She remembered that, during her own childhood, her parents were so cheap that...
Why Do We Still Drink the Kool-Aid?
It has been almost 34 years since the tragic deaths in Jonestown of nearly a thousand people, most by their own choice, under the control of a charismatic leader who had managed to exploit their vulnerabilities into an...
A Riddle, Hyperbolic Frame and Invitation to Advance Moral Good in Charlotte
When two Catholic bishops, two Episcopal bishops, one Methodist bishop, one Lutheran bishop and one AME Zion bishop gather in one room, what do you get? Add to the conclave a Catholic sister who has appeared recently...
Did Missouri Baptists Cross Line with GOP Primary Support?
Americans United for Separation of Church and State has filed a complaint with the IRS over the Missouri Baptist Convention's involvement in the Missouri Republican primary. Details of the involvement were laid out in...
Will You Eat Less to Reduce Global Hunger?
Then, they will reply, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and fed you?" (Matthew 25:37) Seldom did I see an overweight person while living in Indonesia. In fact, at the food market I noticed a jamu (indigenous medicine)...
Building Community to Help Disadvantaged Children
"Teachers are builders," said my friend. "You build safe learning environments for your students. You build safe spaces for your parents. You build knowledge and experience for yourselves. You build community with each...
Windy weather
Hurricane Isaac is bearing down on the Gulf coast, resurrecting fearful memories of Katrina just as the seventh anniversary of that deadly tempest approaches. Ramifications are many: Isaac has already wreaked havoc...
Will Your Church Accept or Fear Change?
In the last few months, I've found myself in the midst of a lot of change, and I don't know how I feel about it. I graduated from seminary in May, and after working as a pastor for Passport camps, I started a new job...
Lebanese Churches: From Actors to Advocates
When I first arrived in Lebanon, I was so impressed to see the high level of civic engagement and the extent to which there was "free space" for non-state actors to be engaged in advocacy, social services, interfaith...
Mo. Baptist Leaders Host Conference Call To Support Embattled Sen. Candidate Akin
Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) leaders hosted a Friday afternoon conference call to rally support for the candidacy of embattled Missouri Senate nominee Todd Akin, who said women rarely become pregnant after...
Repurposing
I'm in Georgia this weekend to officiate a wedding for my lovely niece Kristen, and her intended, Jake. The happy occasion is taking place in the countryside east of Athens at Tucker Plantation, in what used to be a...
“ParaNorman”
From the folks that gave us "Coraline" comes a new stop-motion animated movie, "ParaNorman." Norman Babcock (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a kid that loves old zombie movies. But that's not the most interesting thing about him:...
Jesus Fails as Health Expert, Wins as Heart Expert
Some public health expert Jesus turns out to be! Ye gads, he doesn't think it's important to wash your hands before a meal. My mother, of blessed memory, would not be pleased. She would, however, have been quick to...