Strangers carted away my friend’s history yesterday, piece by piece. An auctioneer’s singsong cajoling held Dave’s life up for examination and bid. Chains, tractors, implements, house furniture, fuel tanks, rakes and hoes all appraised unemotionally for their “value” by area farmers hoping…
In Chicago, an unlikely pastor learns love requires proximity
Jonathan Brooks moved his family into their new address in the dead of night. He didn’t want his neighbors in the tough Englewood section of Chicago to see the computers or televisions or nice furniture his family owned. He told…
Father’s Day reflection: Dad’s wallet was a pocket portfolio of a life lived honorably and dutifully
A Father’s Day reflection: Going through Dad’s wallet a couple years after his death was sure to carry me back. How far, I had no idea until I dove in.
25 years later, grace and forgiveness still rise from rubble of the Oklahoma City bombing
Author Jeanne Bishop explores the unlikely but redemptive relationship between two Christians – one the father of Timothy McVeigh, the perpetrator of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing; the other the father of Julie Welch, one of the 168 persons killed in the blast.
Four decades ago we sponsored two Vietnamese refugees. It changed lives – theirs, ours and America’s
Anh and Xuan’s plight was desperate and dangerous, their destiny cast into the hands of resentful and suspicious nations, their destination completely unknown. A generation later, their families are strong, and their contributions to our society are profound.
Norfolk Street Choir infuses dignity with a dose of music
No one would mistake the Freemason Street Baptist Church Norfolk Street Choir concert for professionals. But that’s hardly the point. With this group, rehearsals are in large part the purpose. Performance is a byproduct.
Photo Gallery: Norfolk Street Choir
View the photo gallery from the Norman Street Choir.
Pastor, judge, activist, agitator: As he strives for justice, Wendell Griffen stretches the lexicon of adjectives
Wendell Griffen, 66, is all of these things. But his persona is so large, his reputation so loud, his “rightness” so locked in and eagerly defended, that the man’s depth can be lost in the shallows in which he must wade.
Racially diverse church occupies campus where Baptist pastor once proclaimed racist views
In one of life’s delicious little ironies, New Millennium Church now meets on the campus associated with one of Little Rock’s most ardent racists of the 1950s.