I’m not a bumper sticker guy, but mid-week after one particular Sunday sermon someone showed up in my office with a gift in hand, patterned on that sermon title: “Eschew Obfuscation.” You know: Avoid making things difficult to understand. I…
The church is called to die
The church my wife and I have served since 2000 was founded 70 years ago as a Southern Baptist mission, a church plant in a neighborhood that had just been converted from a dairy farm. The founding pastor understood his…
What if we spent $9 billion on diplomacy?
It’s hard to know how to leave when you shouldn’t have been there in the first place. The Afghanistan debacle is all the news these days, and for good reason. The humanitarian crisis created by the sudden departure of American…
Knowing our history does not make us anti-American
“Denial is not a river in Egypt.” I used to hear that sarcastic and humorous pun without really understanding it. After reading too much news for the last year, I understand it too well now. If you’re as slow as…
How do you change a society?
The gospel calls for social justice, not just individual, personal salvation. Societal justice. Although it’s not the same thing, social justice is not unrelated to the call for “liberty and justice for all.” It is too commonplace in our superficially…
Are you sure the Bible actually says that?
“The Bible says …” These may be the most dangerous words in the world, because people say this all the time — and sometimes have no idea what they are talking about. As a pastor (you know, I’m supposed to…
What if God is bigger than ‘omnipotent’?
“God is not omnipotent. There. I’ve said it.” I haven’t published the book yet, but my manuscript, titled The Power of the God Who Can’t: God Always Does Everything God Can Do, begins with those words. When the late Frank Tupper said…
Pope Francis practices Orwellian doublethink
Despite having declared in 2013, “Who am I to judge gay people?” (to the dismay of conservative Christians and the hope of much of the Western world) Pope Francis did just that in supporting a recent ruling by the Vatican’s…
In the spirit of Dr. Seuss …
Theodore Geisel has just made the news For words that he rhymed in inappropriate cues. The Left said “It’s cute, but too racist and rude — We can’t expose our kids to the slightly-so-crude.” Archaic his pictures, picturing gender and…
Why we need to talk about abortion
We need to talk about abortion. The first time I remember knowing anything about the subject, I was probably in late elementary school and overheard my older cousins and sibling snickering about my grandmother’s concern about “all those aborkins” and…
Today, I’ve got nothing to say
I’ve got nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. It never has happened before, but I’ve been trying to write this piece since Jan. 6. And I’ve got nothing. For about five years, I’ve enjoyed this platform. Many would give their writing hand…
Nine chapters that summarize how I got from there to here
When we became the co-pastors of Park Road Baptist Church in 2000, we were introduced to the Park Road Clergy, an informal fellowship of six churches within about a mile of our office. For 20 years, six pastors have met…