By David Wilkinson It was Wilkinson versus the Wiper (as in windshield wiper). Don’t laugh. This duel was a battle to the death, my own no-holds-barred version of Wrestle Mania, waged on a Saturday afternoon in the driveway. In…
Falling in love with the church
By David Wilkinson Valentine’s Day is a reminder that what the church needs today is a lot more love affairs. Both the church universal and your church — the local body of baptized believers where you belong — need your…
The State of the Union, from a different perspective
By David Wilkinson This week our 22-year-old daughter watched President Obama’s second State of the Union address from an interesting vantage point — a men’s shelter in the Southside neighborhood of Tucson, Ariz. Two evenings a week Meredith assists the…
Lessons from a cough
By David Wilkinson I have rediscovered in the past month an affinity for coughing. I don’t much like it, but I have learned a few things from it. I’ve been coughing since acquiring a nasty upper respiratory infection a few…
Window washing and Advent
By David Wilkinson The window washers left our house at sunset last night with about 90 percent of the job done. Seems the rest is up to us: we can live with being mostly clean or we can finish the…
Celebrities and saints
By David Wilkinson Americans’ obsession with celebrities seems inexhaustible. The ubiquity of the Internet and the rise of social media have added a whole new dimension to this social phenomenon. Today, one can read about, watch and “follow” a favorite…
Note to self: if you’re going to win the lottery, win big!
By David Wilkinson The Rev. Peter de Villiers got an answer to his prayers: he won the lottery. Some of his parishioners and denominational kinsmen, however, aren’t celebrating the pastor’s good fortune. My wife has her doubts, too. According to…
Fairness and freedom
By David Wilkinson Another Baptist editor has been ushered out. And that thud you hear is another door to Baptist freedom slamming shut behind him. Technically, Norman Jameson is still editor of the Biblical Recorder of North Carolina, one of…
Bonhoeffer and the power of story
By David Wilkinson For Eric Metaxas, a New York Times best-selling author, one story led to another. A few years ago a friend gave Metaxas a book on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the brilliant and courageous German theologian, pastor and writer who…
Ice cream and the ministry of hospitality
(Editor’s note: While ABP Executive Director David Wilkinson’s “After the -30-” column normally is published every other Friday, technical difficulties prevented it from being posted on its normal schedule last Friday.) By David Wilkinson At our house, hospitality is…
Mom finally promotes out of 2nd-grade Sunday school
By David Wilkinson Forty-nine years ago my mother and I advanced to the second-grade Sunday school class together. This year, on her 50th “Promotion Sunday,” Mom finally made it out of the second grade. It nearly broke her heart. In…
The legacy of Elijah Lovejoy
By David Wilkinson A few days ago I stood at the grave of Elijah Lovejoy, a journalist, newspaper editor and Presbyterian minister, who was murdered on Nov. 7, 1837, by a mob in Alton, Ill., for his courageous and uncompromising…