Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Seasonal Charity and Biblical Justice
The holiday season from Thanksgiving to Christmas is the most intensely charitable time of the whole year. Church and civic groups gather clothes, food, and toys for needy families. Volunteers make their way to...
The in-between time
The week after Christmas has always struck me as a rather odd period. Although some folks (especially retailers) go immediately back to work, it's common for other folks to save enough vacation days to remain off...
One-Time SBC Rising Star in Spotlight for Sexual Text Messages
Once the most sought-after African-American on the Southern Baptist Convention preaching circuit before sexual misconduct marred his ministry in the 1990s, Pastor Darrell Gilyard has taken a leave of absence from his...
Transforming Poverty by Reconsidering Our Citizenship
The power of our communities lies in the ideals of our common humanity. To continue to live in separate villages whose cohesiveness is ephemeral at best, or in gated communities of homogeneity, will only enhance...
Welcoming the Christ Child
Today marks the culmination of a dozen shopping sprees, a hundred hand-addressed greeting cards, a thousand hors d’oeuvres and sugar cookies, a million twinkling lights and our best efforts to prepare for the coming of...
Christmas Preparation
Every year at Christmas I take a week of vacation either before or after the holiday. This year I took off the week before. Knowing that things might be hectic in the church office I thought I had everything lined up...
Baptists Celebrate Christmas in Malaysia
Washington (BWA) For the very first time, permission was granted by Malaysian authorities for Christians to celebrate Christmas in the Muslim-majority country. John Kok, president of the Malaysia Baptist Convention...
‘The Great Debaters’
You don't have to know much about propositions, resolutions and fallacies to appreciate "The Great Debaters," which opens Christmas Day.Denzel Washington, who also directed the picture, stars as Mel Tolson, a professor...
‘The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep’
Rarely has a movie experience taken me to places in my childhood I have long since forgotten. Many movies make me wish I were a child again, but few films make me feel like a child. The story that unfolds in "The Water...
Christmas card troubles
Today's paper reports that credit card trouble is on the rise as folks who took out bigger mortgages than they were able to pay are discovering that they can't pay for all the stuff they charged on credit cards,...
Who Is Jesus?
As we make our way to Christmas Day when millions of Christians worldwide celebrate the birth of Jesus, perhaps it's worth asking, "Who is Jesus?" For many, Jesus is first and foremost the Savior of the world. He was...
There’s ‘Joy’ in the Manger
Through the years I have enjoyed observing countless living nativity scenes during the holiday season. Most of these scenes are staged on the lawns of church campuses or they are incorporated into annual Christmas...
The More Things Change, the More They Change: A Christmas Memoir
As a child I would go to bed on Christmas Eve so excited I could hardly sleep. Of course, part of the problem was that the last words I heard from Mama before I went to bed were "Go to sleep now; Santa Claus won't come...
‘Portion control’
The invasion of the in-laws will peak around noon today at our house, when about 15 of us will encounter enough food for two bowl-bound football teams. The ham, turkey, dressing, greens, ambrosia, sweet potato...
Homeschoolers Not Monolithic In Support for Huckabee
National media describe an army of homeschoolers propelling Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee over the top in Iowa, but several blogs suggest not all home educators are marching in lockstep. "When you...
Second Former Minister From Austin Southern Baptist Church Convicted of Molestation
A prominent Southern Baptist church in Austin, Texas, may see its second former minister go to prison for sexual abuse of a child. Jerry Dale Carver, 52, pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted sexual abuse of a child,...
‘National Treasure: Book of Secrets’
Treasure protector Benjamin Franklin Gates returns in "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," which opens nationwide today. While the original clicked like a precision-made Chinese puzzle box, this one grinds along on...
Huckabee and the Baptist Celebration
A friend and Baptist leader from Arkansas called yesterday. Our conversation rested mostly on two topics: former Arkansas governor and rising presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, and the Celebration of a New Baptist...
Barbie Poisoning
I remember the year I eased the Barbie ban. It started with a lazy holiday shrug and ended with a dozen naked plastic bodies strewn about the house. I never bought a Barbie myself. Yet, a few years and a few children...
The Kingdom of God is Ultimate Reality
The Kingdom that Jesus taught is ultimate reality--reality that cannot be transgressed without dire consequences. "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23.)Because the Kingdom of God is ultimate reality, we have...
Thompson Grossly Overstates Endorsement of ’40 Million’ Wesleyans
Presidential candidate Fred Thompson spoke ministerially--a euphemism in preacher circles for inflating numbers from the pulpit--when he claimed endorsement by two men representing 40 million Wesleyans, according to a...