Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
When Church and State Should Interact
Anyone who has read this column even for a short period of time knows I am an ardent proponent of the separation of church and state. Not only am I convinced this is what the founders fully intended in the First...
What’s going or gone?
Radio personalities Randy and Spiff, on Atlanta's Oldies 106.7, helped me endure the metro traffic woes earlier this week with a bit about things that are disappearing. Callers came up with all kinds of things like...
Stop thinking of church as family?
I was a bit surprised by a recent blog at Faith and Leadership, where author/consultant Tony Robinson suggested that churches would be healthier if they stop thinking of themselves as a family. That ruffled my feathers...
Evangelism and Ethics Are Inseparable
Proselytism is a dirty word for both secularists and goodwill Christians. Many secularists oppose any expression of Christian witness – at home or abroad. They favor freedom from religion. Many goodwill Christians...
“Blood Done Sign My Name”
It's an oft-told tale, usually found on television as a Hallmark Hall of Fame broadcast: a small Southern town torn apart by a racial killing. Sadly, there are lots of these kinds of stories, so the one told in "Blood...
When It’s Time to Move to the Next Ministry
If you are in ministry, there are times in your life when you have to make a decision about moving from one place of ministry to another. We often use very spiritual and theological language to explain this. In a...
Living in the age of TMI
TMI — short for “too much information” — is often used when someone offers more personal details than the listener wants to hear. But it can apply to other areas of communication as well.Amid the busy publishing cycle...
A Lord’s Supper Meditation
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church Little Rock, Ark., on Feb. 28, 2010. Psalm 27:1-14; Luke 13:31-35 Go and tell that fox for me, ˜Listen, I am casting out demons and performing...
Engaging in War to Forget Violence
Why do so many Christians support violence when their professed Savior seems to have done otherwise? What is behind the merging of Jesus and violence? The reason for this approval runs deeper than an interpretive...
How Easily We Justify Our Cruelty
It's such a little thing, really. Over the last six months our house has been taken over by ants. I'm told by many these are "the joys of home ownership" – that this is simply what happens. We kill them and they move...
Idol Threats: Tiger Woods’ and Toyota’s Failing
It is not necessary to recount the sins of Tiger Woods. That has already been done in ample supply. We all know what Tiger did … and with whom … and almost how many times. As he said himself, the temptations were...
Wild Chickens and a Mother’s Love
This sermon was delivered by Carra Hughes Greer, minister to families with youth at Smoke Rise Baptist Church, Stone Mountain, Ga., on Feb. 28, 2010. Luke 13:31-35 One sunny afternoon, my oldest brother Troy had...
Eat like a god, die like a mortal
Egyptian priests who ritually served rich foods to the gods -- and then ate it themselves -- were prone to higher incidents of heart disease. That common sense assumption has now been documented in an article published...
Do We Understand Who the Messiah Is?
We all know that in the English language words that are spelled the same or sound the same can have various meanings. For example, the word "spring" has at least three different meanings. A spring can be a source of...
Breaking Barriers: Reading the Bible in Spanish
The 1950s television star Desi Arnaz – best known as Ricky Ricardo in the sitcom "I Love Lucy" – had a sign posted on his dressing room door: "English is broken here." For those of us who are Latinos and Latinas, this...
African-American Baptists Form Historic Partnership to Rebuild Haiti
Five African-American Baptist conventions have started a historic and ambitious collaborative effort to raise $50 million to help rebuild Haiti after January’s devastating earthquake. Involved in this unprecedented...
Staying true to the call
Carol Burgess remembers the Sunday in 1981 when A.B. Short, an ordained minister and member of Oakhurst Baptist Church in Decatur, Ga., “sounded a call” for a compassionate response to Atlanta’s homeless. She...
Americans’ Anger About Taxes Is Misplaced
Tax software. Tea parties. Now a plane purposely crashed into an IRS building. Americans have always been uneasy about taxation, and let's face it: Most don't like to give up money and hand it over to the government. I...
British Baptists’ Acts of Kindness Spread Hope
Evangelistic initiatives come and go. They are remembered and forgotten according to their impact not only on the community at large, but also on those who took part. Every time there is a new national movement in...
States snookering citizens for more money
As state governments continue to struggle with declining tax revenue, the pressure to raise money through government gambling operations continues. Having just about maxed out lottery earnings, at least 14 states are...
Opposing Gambling for Wrong Reason
Anybody know what Alabama Gov. Riley's present obsession with gambling is all about? Gambling in one form or another has been present throughout Riley's two terms as governor. Why the interest now is a mystery. His...