“But he was using his time in the spotlight to honor God!” That’s what a Christian friend said when I objected to a college football player saying his team won a ballgame because God was on their side. Such verbal…
Were 102,000 football fans really praying to Jesus?
An angry face ranted to me after a Sunday morning worship at the church I served between 1994 and 2002 in Knoxville, Tenn. He was railing about a mutual friend who led a student ministry at the University of Tennessee…
‘Bye bitch’ and other Bible Belt reactions to execution news
My arm jolted in pain as the needle slid into a vein in my right arm. It momentarily interrupted my response to the other nurse on the left of my gurney in a surgical suite at a Christian hospital in…
Purity culture meets Mom’s divorce-court gift
I threw my paint brush down and demanded my mother explain why she didn’t like my fiancée. It was summer between my junior and senior year in college. Mom and I were painting a bathroom in my parents’ house. She…
Bobs, heartbreaks and space jellyfish
“I will ask off work if you really want me to. But I think you need to do this trip solo. And just heal.” Heeding those words from my wife, here I am, south of Daytona Beach, Fla. — in…
EvvyLUtion, Christian higher ed and the cricket problem
“Brad, I’ve got a big ask.” It was the vice president for church relations at the Baptist university where I taught in East Tennessee. Our relationship dated back to his being a guest preacher at two churches I served. He…
Should joining a church be as easy as getting a prescription for Viagra?
“All in favor, say ‘Aye.’” “AYE!” the congregation heartily said. “Any opposed?” And with a saccharine smile, the pastor would say, “Of course there’s no opposition,” then turn to the newly approved church members and say, “Welcome. Stand here with…
Tennessee gubernatorial candidate would ban mosques
With a toothy laugh, Tennessee GOP primary gubernatorial candidate Monty Fritts defends his pledge to ban Muslim mosques and other “pagan” houses of worship. The primary election is August 6, and state representative Fritts faces two opponents: Sen. Marsha Blackburn…
Half-truths and the Six Commandments
“The Ten Commandments are displayed in the Supreme Court of the United States.” “There are more trees in the United States today than when the pilgrims first landed.” What do these two claims have in common and so what? It’s…
Don’t let John Piper determine whether your loved one ‘should’ be cremated
In the 1970s, my father opposed the switch in women’s basketball from half-court to full-court play. He was so dogmatically conservative, he nearly did not receive tenure at a Southern Baptist college. But when he died, per his wishes, he…
Shaving Dad goodbye
His cremation ashes will not be any different because I gave my dad a shave before the funeral home took his body from the house he’d lived in for 47 years. On the surface, logic says a shave before cremation…
Colorizing the SBC’s one-paint-can resolution on euthanasia
Cancer has reduced my father’s robust frame to skin-covered bones. His bombastic voice has deflated to a chirping whisper. But his 84-year-old blue eyes still sparkled when he abruptly made a comment that, to fully appreciate, requires decades of context….