Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
The New Baptist Covenant Will Be Judged Not By How We Feel But By What We Do
I was unable to travel to the New Baptist Covenant Celebration, due to meetings I had to attend related to an opportunity to purchase land on the highway next to our church. I am sorry that I missed it. I have grown...
A New Voice for the Faithful
The expression, "there at the beginning," took on special meaning for me this past week. I was witness to the birth of a new movement in Alabama, a movement which has the potential to redefine the way faith communities...
Job in the season of Lent
In recent weeks I've had several opportunities to teach the Book of Job in churches holding a winter Bible study. Most of these have come during the season of Lent, when Job seems particularly appropriate.Lent is a...
They Call Themselves Christians
The recent New Baptist Covenant Celebration in Atlanta focused on Jesus' moral agenda, outlined in Luke 4. Perhaps like the Shema (Dt 6:4-9), we should keep these words of Jesus in our hearts, recite them to our...
Judge Says Sexual Abuse Case Involving Repressed Memory May Proceed
A judge in Jacksonville, Fla., has said a second lawsuit can move forward accusing a Baptist mega-church in the city of harboring a longtime former pastor now alleged to have been a pedophile. In all seven lawsuits...
Where Do Payday Lenders Go to Church?
Do a Google search for the words "Baptists" and "payday." You will be surprised by what you find and disappointed by what is missing. You will find abundant references to the Baptist preacher R. G. Lee, who preached...
To install an attic ladder…
Saturday's task was to replace the broken wooden attic ladder with a new, stronger version. I started on the task right after my daughter's morning softball practice in the mud. Blogging was to come later, but the...
It’s the globe, smarty
The biggest issue facing the next president of the United States is not the economy, even though polls from primary states indicate that issue is at the top of many voters' lists. It's true that the economy is in a...
Jesus’ Political Message Pronounced Judgment on Imperial Power
Most readers of the Gospels are familiar with Jesus' confrontations with demons. Throughout his ministry, Jesus encountered many individuals who were said to be possessed by unclean spirits; spirits who were in direct...
New Baptist Covenant Celebration a Gift to North American Baptists
Like every other Baptist gathered in Atlanta, I was so pleased at the experience from participating in the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant. I was unsure whether to come at first, not knowing what to expect or...
SNAP Leaders Ask Patterson to Apologize for ‘Evil-Doers’ Remark
A self-help group for victims of clergy sexual abuse is asking the head of a Southern Baptist seminary to apologize for calling their organization "evil-doers." The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests also...
Technological advantage?
It is amazing how quickly we get used to grand technological advances. Recently, I noticed my daughter, a high school freshman, researching a school project on the Greek goddess Artemis. Within a few minutes, she had...
‘Atonement’
"Atonement" shows the power of a lie and how hard it is to undo a wrong done. It begins as a piece of fluff, during the days before World War II, on an English estate. Young writer-to-be Briony Tallis (Saorise Ronan)...
New Covenant Baptists Must Grasp ‘Other Reality’ of Diversity
I am writing this short article in the afterglow of the Atlanta event that celebrated the New Baptist Covenant. The overall response from the Canadian contingent, even though our participation was more as observers...
EthicsDaily.com Posts Four Videos on Faith and Public Education
Four videos on the relationship between public schools and faith communities are now available at EthicsDaily.com. The four videos, each under three minutes, compile remarks made at a two-day conference in Memphis...
Friends in space?
Today (Feb. 20) marks the 45th anniversary of John Glenn's space flight aboard the "Friendship 7," a single-person, single-use capsule used in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) "Mercury"...
New Baptist Covenant: One-Time Event, or Beginning of a Movement?
To an outsider, the main impetus for the New Baptist Covenant, supported by 30 Baptist denominations and groups in North America might seem clear: an opportunity for the Baptists of North America to re-group after the...
Executive Committee Still Studying Feasibility of Clergy Sex-Offender Database
The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention isn't yet ready to respond to a motion referred from last year's convention calling for a feasibility study of a denomination-wide database of clergy sex...
Payday Lenders Boom Where Conservative Christians Exercise Political Power
The predatory practice of payday lenders flourishes in the Bible Belt, the very place where one would think that the piety and morality of church goers would oppose such ventures that charge the poor exorbitant...
Thumbs up for Jack R. Linscott Jr.
Despite stormy weather, a bunch of us gathered at Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., on Sunday afternoon to celebrate the uniquely bright life of Jack R. Linscott Jr. He died the week before at age...
Florida Education Board Should Stick to Science, Avoid Theology
The Florida Board of Education should discount a letter from the top official of the Florida Baptist Convention opposing the approval of language for the new science standards that reads: "Evolution is the fundamental...