Looking over the landscape of Baptist churches, there are days when we might rightly cry out, “Lord, give us a bishop!” Too often, churches use their full autonomous rights to make awful hiring decisions. Not all the time, but not…
Christmas Ornaments
For the first three years after my Father died, my Mother refused to put up a Christmas tree. Christmas had been a beloved holiday for both my parents, and my Father spent countless hours each year setting up the Snow…
This is what we do
By Mark Wingfield Long before Ebola came to Dallas, our senior pastor became infamous among staff for this pithy response to the challenges of church work: “This is what we do.” Typically, this response is given when someone has asked…
Ebola ignorance
By Mark Wingfield Someone asked me why I included this phrase in my prayer at Wilshire Baptist Church’s worship service Sunday: “We pray that you would calm the anxious hearts of so many in our city. Help the ignorant to…
New mission center in Dallas taps Bill O’Brien as first executive
By Mark Wingfield Baptist missiologist Bill O’Brien has been named the first executive director of Gaston Christian Center, a new mission and ministry center in north Dallas which aims to create a collective of faith-based agencies and churches to serve…
Ice bucket do-gooders
By Mark Wingfield Americans have heated up the Internet with the Ice Bucket Challenge in the last two weeks. Unless you’ve just flown in from the Arctic, you know exactly what I’m talking about: The social-media-fueled fundraising phenomenon that’s benefitting…
Owning up to our flaws
By Mark Wingfield “The devil made me do it.” Years ago, the comedian Flip Wilson made a name for himself with a ’70s-era shtick in which this was his sassy answer to every misdeed his character committed. For folks of…
Build and tear down
By Mark Wingfield The church building is grand and beautiful, representative of the kind of early 20th-century architecture prevalent among prominent Baptist churches with resources. A recent restoration has brought the shine back to this gem of a worship space,…
Will you be known when you die?
By Mark Wingfield Years ago, there was a national ad campaign aimed at helping Americans understand the importance of going to church. One of my favorite ads in the series showed pallbearers carrying a casket in the front door of…