Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
The Greatest of These
Sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., on Feb. 14, 2010. Psalm 71:1-6; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 It’s...
Baylor’s Bewildering Choice for New President
As news began to surface that Baylor University was naming Kenneth Starr as the university's 14th president, I found myself at a loss for words. And let's face it: For a Baptist preacher, that's saying something. Starr...
Parents Provide Compass for Children’s Lives
When I hold my daughter, I sometimes find myself quickly thinking about what she'll be like when she's 8. Or 25. Or 74. I don't want her to grow up overnight, but I'm a curious guy, easily wondering what kind of job...
Finding Common Ground on Climate Change
One of the most confusing statements I've heard over the past several years is "I don't believe in global warming," as if an environmental phenomenon is something you can choose to believe or not believe. It's similar...
Holey smoke
With a half-finished post about the pothole that ate half the fans at the Daytona 500 saved to my computer, I learned during the morning commute about an even bigger pothole that's rocking the Catholic church: as Pope...
Astounding Glory
Sermon delivered by Keith Herron, Pastor of Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo. on Feb. 14, 2010. Luke 9:28-36 The sacred story we hold in the ordinary hands of our humanity reminds us of the delicate balance...
How Do You Measure Success in Church?
Our county's chamber of commerce just named the pastor of a local nondenominational megachurch as the "business person of the year." He was cited for growing the church from 150 members to more than 6,000 in 30 years....
Laws ‘But Not Hearts’ Have Changed on Racism
Until we moved when I was in the sixth grade, I lived diagonally across the street from our church and the parsonage. Our pastor and his wife and two daughters were our friends. I was in and out of his home and study...
New Constitution Overdue for Alabama
For the past several years various leaders have introduced bills that would allow Alabamians to decide for ourselves whether to rewrite our outdated and cumbersome state constitution. The same is true this year. Senate...
Vocabulary lessons
While our 16-year-old brushed up for her French exam — by chatting with a tennis-playing Frenchman who attends Mercer University — I sipped on a white mocha and worked on my own vocabulary. The coffee shop walls held...
A good move for church-state separation
ABP reported Feb. 11 a bit of good news in the ongoing struggle to maintain healthy boundaries between church and state: a special panel has recommended to President Obama that churches wanting to receive federal...
Answering the Global Warming Deniers in the Snowstorms
As the Catholic Church believed in the age of Galileo that the sun revolved around the earth, many conservatives believe in the age of climate change that the world revolves around the United States. They think if it's...
Megachurch Pastor Decries Tax System
Southern Baptist megachurch pastor Ed Young Sr. recently devoted a sermon to problems he sees with the current American tax system, although he made several inaccurate claims. Young, pastor of Second Baptist Church in...
“Voice From the Past” Advises Barack Obama
The following is an imaginary letter from Mo Amramson to President Obama. "Mo," the son of Amram, is known to most as "Moses," who led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness for 40 years. Dear Barack,...
When Winning is Losing
Sermon delivered by Howard Batson, Pastor of First Baptist Church, Amarillo, Tx., on Feb. 7, 2010. 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 Let me say at the outset that Paul is not taking a position against lawyers, courts, or judges. ...
The Weary Disciple
Sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on Feb. 7, 2010. Psalm 138:1-4; Luke 5:1-11 This probably wasn’t the first time they’d fished all night...
Dedicated to God
Sermon delivered by Joel Snider, pastor of First Baptist Church in Rome, Ga., on February 7, 2010. 1 Samuel 1:21-28 Meditation Text: I read because my father read to me. And because he’d read to me, when my time came...
Required service is really self-service
For decades the mantra of parents and teachers has been: “Make good grades so you can get into a good college.” Now admission counselors are saying that an excellent transcript might not be enough for scholarship...
Pastor’s Opulent Lifestyle Raises Questions
A Dallas TV station, WFAA, reports that Ed Young Jr., pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, travels in a French-made private jet operated by the church, lives in a 10,000-square-foot home listed under the...
Quiet Revolution Begins in Our Hearts
I have been steeping myself in short stories. It's all part of the fun of an annual contest I enter, as much for the access it affords to the works of a multitude of creative writers as for the wacky assignments,...
With Authority From God, Why Don’t We Help?
The story about Jesus rebuking the unclean spirit from a child and giving the child back to the parent is pretty small potatoes compared to all the rest that's going on in Luke 9. We read about Jesus commissioning the...