They’re off and running, and if history is any guide, most white evangelicals will vote for one of these 11 candidates in the 2024 presidential race, now some 500 days away. So far, polls show Donald Trump far ahead of…
What’s happening with church budgets and personnel expenses in a post-pandemic world?
When rethinking church budgets in a post-pandemic world, one old-fashioned rule still applies: Every situation is unique. While some church leaders may be tempted to seek ready-made formulas to guide their new-world budgeting, that’s never been a great idea, according…
If you bet on how many churches the SBC will kick out, take the ‘under’
Southern Baptists will not excommunicate as many churches with women pastors as you might think. They won’t even get the chance. In fact, if Las Vegas oddsmakers set an over/under bet on how many churches the Southern Baptist Convention will…
Picking up the pieces of the SBC
An email pen pal wrote me this weekend to point out the irony of the Southern Baptist Convention’s actions last week against women in church leadership: “Do we realize a 20-year-old boy in college can pastor a Baptist church? But…
Why Americans shouldn’t dismiss Shiny Happy People’s warning of a Christian-controlled nation
The Shiny Happy People documentary got my attention, too. There is a reason it’s trending right now and you’re seeing it in your feeds and hearing about in conversations. Not only did it provide the history behind the Duggar family’s…
Why are ‘unhinged’ people elected to Congress?
After Donald Trump’s indictment on 37 federal charges, U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., posted a cryptic tweet: “President Trump said he has ‘been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM.’ This is a perimeter probe…
Anti-egalitarian forces make clean sweep at SBC annual meeting
Anti-egalitarian forces in the Southern Baptist Convention made a clean sweep of their agenda to exclude women from serving as pastors of any kind in SBC churches. In the process, they affirmed the expulsion of the denomination’s largest church and…
Pat Robertson’s Gong Show
I grew up in the shadow of the Christian Broadcasting Network. I even met Pat Robertson a few times. In high school, I acted in a commercial for The Family Channel. Some of the money Pat Robertson made from its…
This is a story about the gods of the oil industry, capitalistic greed, religious fundamentalism, Islamic terrorism, Christian supremacy, Islamophobia and a federal investigation of Donald Trump
The PGA Tour shocked the world last week with its announcement of a collaboration with LIV Golf. As much as this is about the business of golf, it’s also about the complexities of systemic injustice and the need to deconstruct hierarchies…
In irregular move, SBC Executive Committee puts forward a proposal it doesn’t want to pass
The Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee doesn’t favor a proposed constitutional amendment banning female pastors but wants messengers to the SBC annual meeting to vote on it anyway. During a June 12 meeting in New Orleans one day before the…
The call is coming from inside the house: White Christian churches as incubators of anti-democratic sentiment
In 1979, “When a Stranger Calls” became a surprise box-office success. The plot, which drew on a common folk legend, wasn’t original, but the harrowing first 23 minutes of the film created a cult following and the film is still…
Remember that time three women won the preaching award at Southern Seminary?
In a previous essay, I reflected on the harrowing of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary that happened in the shift in administrations from President Roy Honeycutt to President Al Mohler, 30 years ago in 1993. Readers’ comments on that column reported…