A couple of years ago, in response to President Biden’s 2021 State of the Union speech, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott gave an eloquent speech that earned him the admiration and support of many conservatives while catapulting him to serious…
The church needs a better story than living in fear
The following opinion piece is a dialogue between Mark Wingfield and Amber Wylde. Mark I just returned from a dinner conversation with some other minister friends where we talked about how the fear of God’s judgment sneaks up on those…
Can Barbie help us create justice?
I remember the moment I got my first Barbie. It was 1993, I was about to turn 4, and I was waking up from my third ear tube surgery. My reward for such bravery was a Bedtime Barbie whose eyes…
‘Try That in A Sundown Town’
A small radio rested in my grandmother’s kitchen — one of those gadgets stained by time and the touch of hands that saw a day’s labor before sunrise. On it played nothing but Country Gold. As pintos simmered on the…
What if even a profane message carries truth at its core?
Editor’s note: This article is about profanity and therefore necessarily includes some profanity and substitutes for profanity. A graduate assistant at Louisiana State University, Marcus Venable, has become a casualty in the unending “culture wars.” He has been fired…
4 places to put your tithe money if you no longer attend church
You’ve tithed all your life to a church, dutifully giving that 10% “back to God” as you were taught. But then something happened. A loved one came out. Or you came out. Or Trump got elected. Or the pandemic happened….
Restoration without restitution is complicity
The largest evangelical megachurch in Alabama just spent $4.5 million to open a center for pastoral restoration. The center provides counseling and support for pastors working through issues that cost them their jobs — issues like marital infidelity and sexual…
As you watch the new movie Oppenheimer, remember Glen Stassen
It was 1989 and I had taken a class called Just Peacemaking taught by Glenn H. Stassen. For those of you not familiar with Stassen, he was a nuclear physicist turned theologian turned ethics professor at the Southern Baptist Theological…
How many Americans actually support a ban on abortion?
Last Friday, the leading Republican candidates for president (sans Trump) showed up in Des Moines, Iowa, to campaign among approximately 2,000 overwhelmingly white evangelicals. The forum was sponsored by an evangelical organization called the Family Leader, an organization with a mission…
This one mean tweet says it all
If you want to understand the absurdity of evangelical complementarian young earth reality denial, look at this one tweet from James White July 17 and the dozens of comments it elicited. White, a Calvinist apologist and pastor from Arizona, is…
Learning to pray … again
On Sunday, July 16, at First Baptist Church, Highland Avenue, in Winston-Salem, N.C., Deacon Dr. Judge Kornegay, following the standard liturgy, led the morning prayer. He began by asking God’s blessing on the sick and the bereaved. His gentle yet…
Resisting grace: Why is something so amazing so hard to accept?
If you’ve ever been the recipient of a grace — an undeserved second chance, an unexpected kind word, an unanticipated new beginning — you know the joy and sense of release these experiences bring. Experiencing a true grace restores, empowers…