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 a church. The…
If you had a million dollars …
What would you do if you had a million dollars? That’s a fun “what if” game most of us like to play, pondering all the good we could do, all the fun we might have, all the contributions we could…
The new independent Baptist churches
By Mark Wingfield In the dialogue about “ex-SBC” folks that’s been transpiring on this site in recent weeks, a false assumption seeps in from time to time: That all “ex” Southern Baptists are now affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship….
How can ex-SBCers move forward if they’re not even ‘ex’?
By Mark Wingfield In three recent commentaries, ABPnews/Herald columnist David Gushee has wisely challenged us to consider how we might shape our identity more positively than simply being “ex” members of the Southern Baptist Convention. I’d like to expand the…
What Norman Rockwell and Blanche DuBois have in common
By Mark Wingfield Say the name “Norman Rockwell,” and immediately iconic images of vintage Americana spring to mind. His paintings of Boy Scouts of America and for the covers of the Saturday Evening Post all portray a vision of American…
Norman Rockwell and Blanche Dubois
Say the name “Norman Rockwell,” and immediately iconic images of vintage Americana spring to mind. His paintings for Boy Scouts of America and for the covers of the Saturday Evening Post all portray a vision of American life that we…
Atrocious saints
“A democratic autocrat. An urbane savage. An atrocious saint.” That’s how biographer James Patton described Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States of America. In seeking to write the first scholarly biography of the native Tennessean, Parton felt like…
Praying for death
A year ago we took my mother home on hospice care. She died three days later, mercifully freed from a series of chronic health problems that were cascading out of control. But getting her out of the hospital—her sixth time…
Birthday offerings
What is your earliest memory of giving or receiving? That was the first of a set of prompts given to a small discussion group this week at a class I attended on religious fundraising. My mind immediately pictured a small…