Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
For Big Boi, good ol’ boys and everyone else
Seated next to me at the Atlanta Braves game on Tuesday night was a true fan hailing from Cedartown, Ga. He cheered on the home team with a distinct Northwest Georgia accent that would blend in at one of my family...
Staying in step
When I was a boy going to church on Sunday nights, one of my favorite activities was called the "Sword Drill," but it had nothing to do with swords other than the Bible as a metaphor for "the word of the Lord" that is...
“The Nature of Existence”
This documentary film is about exactly what its title says. So as you might expect, the area of interest is only the meaning of life and all of its attendant questions. Filmmaker Roger Nygard, perhaps best known for...
Lot’s Wife: Vain? Materialistic? Or Just Human?
The Sodom and Gomorrah story reaches its climax when Lot's nameless wife is turned into a pillar of salt. This nameless biblical woman has been dismissed throughout history as a vain and materialistic woman who,...
“The A-Team”
Summer movies are about explosions and stunt work. The good ones add a dash of comedy for the total popcorn flick. Of late, many movies are being based on old TV shows. Now 20 years removed, the '80s have been a mine...
Southern Baptist Convention as spectator sport
There was a time — a long time — when much of my personal and professional identity was tied to being a Southern Baptist. Today I keep up with my former denominational home from a detached journalistic perspective...
Obama Speech Appeals to Faith, Seeks Clean Energy
God's hand will guide us through the storm of the Gulf gusher to a better day, said President Obama in his first Oval Office address to the nation. At the close of his speech, Obama turned to religion with a story...
Thankful to Churches for Helping a Preacher Boy
A document called a certificate of license hangs on my study wall. It reads: "This is to certify Michael Lee Ruffin who has given evidence that God has called him into THE GOSPEL MINISTRY was Licensed to preach the...
Using Racist, Sexist Language to Ignore Others
"Beneath the Skin: Baptists and Racism" screened at the recent Kentucky Baptist Fellowship Spring Gathering. While viewing the presentation, I felt a sense of despair that despite decades of excruciating effort to rid...
Great resurgence … of conflict?
Significant votes as this year's Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) meeting in Orlando reflected some of the widest discrepancies since the divisive days of the 1980s, suggesting that difficult days lie ahead for the...
Recognizing Our Sin Affects Our Capacity to Love
One could get the impression from the story about Jesus eating in the home of the Pharisee named Simon (Luke 7:3-50) that this was going to be a pleasant dinner party, a break from the sparring that kept the Pharisees...
Nothing Personal? The Smiling Face of Racism
In each generation, we must recognize the subtleties of racial discrimination and address the inequities in our society. Sociologists say we live in "the post-civil rights era." More than 45 years ago, Congress passed...
Perfect Game? Rare in Baseball, Rarer in Ministry
Umpire Jim Joyce called the runner safe on June 2, and Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga lost his perfect game. Television replay demonstrated conclusively Joyce was wrong. In fact, after the game, Joyce...
Going for a good cause
Creativity in charitable fundraising is be admired. And I've witnessed some wild ideas from my many years of hanging around college students.Typically, I don't drop money in a bucket being pushed toward my car window...
A Divine Sense of Justice
A sermon delivered by Wendell Griffen, Pastor, New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Ark., on June 13,2010. 1 Kings 21:1-21(a) Today's reading about how King Ahab and his wife, the notorious Jezebel, plotted to get...
If This Man Were A Prophet
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on June 13, 2010 ...
The Last Supper
A sermon delivered by Robert Browning, Pastor, Smoke Rise Baptist Church, Stone Mountain, Ga., on June 6, 2010. I Kings 17:8-24 This story does not lack for drama or strong emotions. It seems that every character...
Bad Religion Protects the Powerful, Shields BP
Bad religion reverses the biblical imperative to protect the powerless in favor of guarding the powerful. Rather than following Jesus' manifesto of bringing good news to the poor, some conservative Christians are...
Which Comes First? Mission or Theology
Rev. Tim Alban Jones, vicar at St. Andrew's Church in Soham, Cambridgeshire, became nationally known in the worst of circumstances. It was in this quiet market town where 10-year-old best friends Holly Wells and...
“Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War”
As a child growing up in the nation's capital, I often rode past the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington, Va. It depicts a striking moment in American history that commemorates the raising of the American flag on a distant...
Good morning …
I can’t say I’ve always been a morning person, but I am now, and I like it that way. I don't need an alarm clock to get up before our part of the globe turns its face to the sun, when the darkness rests like a blanket...