My girlfriend and I went to see the Barbie movie a couple of weeks ago. We expected the movie just to be laughs and giggles because we thought it was a kids’ movie with a lighthearted story. However, that was…
Anthony, Aldean, Dylan and Guthrie
First there was Jason Aldean topping the Billboard Hot 100 with “Try That in a Small Town.” Then, two weeks ago, Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” became the first song ever to top the Billboard Top 100 by…
Four things the SBC Executive Committee should do right now to address clergy sex abuse
The Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee will meet next Monday in Nashville. Here are four things it could do to address clergy sex abuse. All are within its own power and could be done without bumping up against church autonomy….
Bruce Springsteen is a fraud, and so are we
Bruce Springsteen confesses: “I made it all up. … I’ve never held an honest job in my entire life. I’ve never done any hard labor. I’ve never worked nine to five. … I come from a boardwalk town that is…
Women crying out in the wilderness in Tennessee
Runners gathered Sept. 1 to participate in “Let’s Finish Liza’s Run” in Memphis to honor the life and remember the death of Eliza Fletcher. She was killed one year ago, allegedly by Cleotha Abston Henderson, who will stand trial. When…
The night I stopped believing in substitutionary blood atonement
Almost two decades ago, during a combined Holy Thursday/Good Friday worship service, I told a true story from the Holocaust. The story involved a Polish army sergeant named Franciszek Gajowniczek and a Franciscan priest named Maximilian Kolbe. The Saint of…
Who exactly is the pastor?
There has been significant response to Alexander Lang’s post, “Departure: Why I Left the Church.” I know of two pieces published in Baptist News Global – Cody Sanders’ “I Left the Pastorate While Still Loving It” and Tyler Tankersley’s “Why…
What about China?
I have a friend who regularly hijacks my social media posts about climate change with a statement like, “There’s no point in investing all this money to transition away from fossil fuels unless China, India and Russia do the same.”…
What we’re learning since our homeless church moved in with a homeless shelter
One year ago, our new church was just starting to form and trying to flesh out our identity. We spent the first seven months “doing church” in a large classroom on the local university campus, where we focused on cultivating…
Body positivity and self love is a revolutionary act
A childhood friend and I recently have been talking a lot about our bodies. With both of us on the edge of turning 40, what society says about who we are supposed to be or how we are supposed to…
Our untapped treasure
Do you know any old ladies? I mean the ones gerontologists refer to as the “old-olds”? They are in their late 80s, their 90s and even 100s. With our advancing technologies and expanding life spans, there are more of them…
Connected sectarianism at the end of an age
In his seminal work After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre closes with an arresting and memorable paragraph : A crucial turning point in that earlier history occurred when men and women of good will turned aside from the task of shoring up…