By Elizabeth Evans Hagan It’s that time of year. Bright-eyed and empowered seminary students are completing their last papers, picking up their caps and gowns and saying goodbye to the hallowed walls of their theological training institution. For many, their…
Can we tell the truth?
By Elizabeth Evans Hagan At a recent writing workshop the presenter offered this advice. “If you want to write well, if you want to connect with your audience,” she offered, “you always must tell the truth. There’s nothing that can…
Our bodies do matter
By Elizabeth Evans Hagan First Corinthians 6:11-20 can be the preacher’s worst nightmare — a passage full of directives about sex, food and all things bodily. Yet, I chose it as part of a six-part series about God’s calling on…
How merry can your pastor’s Christmas be?
By Elizabeth Evans Hagan “Are we having church on Christmas Day this year?” Such has been a constant question asked at my office door since Thanksgiving. The answer is an enthusiastic “yes, of course we are” (even if the music…
What Twitter can teach the church
By Elizabeth Evans Hagan “You should try Twitter, Elizabeth; it would be a good networking tool for the church.” For months those words uttered by a communications specialist friend of mine fell on deaf ears. My distant impression of Twitter…
Taking a leap of faith
By Elizabeth Evans Hagan “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. By faith, Abel.… By faith, Noah.… By faith, Abraham.… By faith, Isaac.… By faith, Jacob.… By faith, Joseph.” And the list…
The conversation no one wants to keep having
By Elizabeth Evans Hagan Baptist Women in Ministry recently came out with its latest report on the state of women in Baptist life. In the report, released at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship meeting in Tampa, Fla., BWIM reported that there…
What ‘they’ think of the Baptists
By Elizabeth Evans Hagan No matter if you believe being gay is theologically sound or not, the presence of the gay and lesbian community in our society is growing all the time. A May 25, 2011, Gallup Poll reported a…
An Easter PSA
By Elizabeth Evans Hagan There’s nothing like Easter Sunday to make folks happy. Songs and shouts of “Alleluias” fill our sanctuaries. People arrive dressed in their Easter best. Old and new friends alike are in the same room for a…