Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
The Thinking Christian’s Election in Britain
Well, it's started. The race for Number 10 is well and truly on, and it is by common consent one of the most fascinating of modern times. The favorite by a very narrow margin indeed is David Cameron, but it would be a...
Wear burqa, stop earthquakes
Christians have grown sadly accustomed to famous but fringe preachers who presume to speak for God in drawing connections between human behavior and natural disasters. Pat Robertson notoriously opined that Hurricane...
Obesity Requires Seatbelt Extension in the Bible Belt
During one of the flash points of the national debate over health-care reform, I observed a conservative moral leader ask a flight attendant for a seatbelt extension. "Good grief," I thought to myself. Regrettably,...
Converting to God’s Way Every Day
In reading the ninth chapter of the book of Acts, I am struck by the words in the first verse that describe Saul's (soon to be, but not yet Paul's) demeanor. He is "still breathing threats and murder against the...
An Alternative to Warren’s “Purpose Driven Life”
Challenging Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Life" is like David going up against Goliath, especially if you're the pastor of a small congregation who also teaches at a small seminary. When the call came, I had to...
Turning Point
A sermon delivered by Wendell Griffen, Pastor of New Millennium Church, Little Rock, Ark., on April 18, 2010. Acts 9:1-6 What caused you to become a follower of Jesus? I am not talking about when you began attending...
The Simon Peter In All Of Us
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on April 18, 2010. Psalm 30:-12;...
Time to Rebuild
A sermon delivered by Robert Browning, Pastor of Smoke Rise Baptist Church, Stone Mountain, Ga., on April 11, 2010. John 20:19-31 How do you help someone put their life, including their faith, back together after...
Faith for a new generation
USA Today featured an article in late March on the way Millennials do faith and politics. I pulled it out, tucked it away and just read it again.The focus is on a Pew Research Center study showing that those born after...
Health-Care Reform: A Pro-Life Victory
I am a pro-life Christian. On the Sunday of the historic vote on health care, I opened my e-mail to find a mass e-mail from Americans United for Life, basically calling the president a liar and health-care reform...
For Guys, Trust is Only a Beard Away
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported on April 14 on a Journal of Marketing Communications study suggesting that men with beards are perceived as more trustworthy – at least when they're selling something....
British Politicians Court Christian Vote
With the general election scheduled for May 6, the leaders of Britain's three main political parties have been canvassing for the Christian vote in recent days. Steve Chalke, a Baptist minister and founder of...
Indian Baptists Fear Fresh Wave of Violence
An attack on Christians "on the scale of Orissa" is brewing in Karnataka, a state in the southern part of India, according to local Baptists. A huge increase in anti-Christian violence together with low-level...
WMUNC: called and answering
The Woman's Missionary Union of North Carolina (WMUNC) celebrated its "Missions Extravaganza" April 16-18 as more than 900 women from across the state gathered at Ridgecrest for the annual amalgam of worship, learning...
Faith and Science: Not an Either/Or Choice
Is it possible to simultaneously believe that the Bible is true and that the findings of science are also true? Esteemed Old Testament scholar Bruce K. Waltke certainly thinks so. Waltke teaches at Reformed Theological...
Forget the Tea Party. We Need a Prayer Party
Hyper-partisanship was in full bloom in the nation's capital when I attended the Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD), an annual conference on global peace sponsored by more than 45 Christian denominations, service...
Cecil Sherman dies after heart attack
Cecil Sherman, 82, foremost among early leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship movement, died today (April 17) following what was described as "a massive heart attack" on the evening of April 15. Sherman was...
Founding CBF Coordinator Cecil Sherman Dies
Cecil Sherman, longtime leader of moderate Southern Baptists and founding coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, died April 17 in Virginia from complications of a heart attack. Sherman suffered a massive...
Return of the longwinded preacher
Yikes! Dr. Tom Long of Emory University's Candler School of Theology said recent studies have shown that sermons are getting longer for the first time in decades.It is hard to imagine, given the truth of the adage: The...
When Injustice Strikes, ‘Make Them Hear You’
Even if art doesn't imitate life, it most assuredly gives us a better vocabulary for how to say something. I have always been envious of the poets and songwriters, as they can do in four minutes what it takes the...
“Date Night”
The most common storytelling paradigm for movies now has to be the "fish out of water" theme. You know, a character is thrown into a situation counter to his or her normal way of being, and the audience sees what...