In my work advocating for women in ministry for more than a decade, there have been many instances in which a conversation with a male pastor or religious leader has included some form of the following: “Our church/organization decided about…
Can pastors please stop salivating over women’s bodies in sermons? A response to Jonathan Pokluda’s objectification of the ‘perfect’ woman
Megachurch Pastor Jonathan Pokluda made a splash on Twitter when a three-minute clip of his Jan. 22 sermon went viral. He narrated how, early in his marriage, he ventured to a restaurant with a friend for chips and queso when…
Joshua Bassett’s baptism illustrates LGBTQ+ Christians’ bait-and-switch experiences
Video of openly gay actor Joshua Bassett’s recent baptism at Bethel Church, a prominent conservative evangelical megachurch in Redding, Calif., set off competing responses — including Basset’s. Conservative Christians — who hailed Bassett’s public statement of faith as an example…
Why do politicians lie? Because it works — and shame on us
Sen. Mitt Romney recently called serial liar Rep. George Santos a “sick puppy” and said the Long Island Republican didn’t “belong” in the House chamber in a heated exchange before President Biden’s State of the Union address. The veteran Republican senator scolded…
Maybe Marie Kondo finally has come around to missionary Martha Myers’ mantra
Stop the presses: Marie Kondo, the “queen of clean,” confesses she can’t keep her own house perfectly pristine every single day. The 38-year-old mogul of a global “tidying up” empire is now the mother of three — her third child…
Want to understand why the SBC expelled its largest church? Listen to W.A. Criswell
W.A. Criswell would be so proud of the Southern Baptist Convention this week. The man who once was the spokesman for why women should not — cannot — be pastors has reached peak influence 114 years after his birth. About…
An invisible wall: How to support your pastor through mental health challenges
I’ll never forget walking into my annual staff evaluation meeting and encountering a roomful of awkward looks. The head of our church’s personnel committee started the meeting off with, “So, do you feel that your … um … anxiety issues…
The pastorate — always a challenge — is even harder in this post-intention world
I served 27 years as a pastor, the last 15 of them in a wonderfully supportive and healthy congregation. Even so, mistrust in the narthex, rooted in our toxic culture, is part of what led me toward the church exit…
Slavery and guns in America: The constitutional parallels
“We don’t have to die like this. We don’t have to live like this.” Those two sentences have become something of a mantra for Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. I heard her say…
If revivalism isn’t part of your spiritual experience, you’re not defective
It’s likely that mainline United Methodists are only vaguely aware of the “revival” happening at United Methodist-adjacent Asbury University. But it’s an event evangelicals across denominational lines can’t stop talking about, and so I’ll jump in. If “revivals” are not…
A lesson from the Philadelphia Flyers: When inclusion becomes exclusive
To champion sexuality and gender inclusion while denying respectful disagreement reeks of hypocrisy. Take the recent case of National Hockey League player Ivan Provorov, a defenseman for the Philadelphia Flyers. For their Jan. 17 game against the Anaheim Ducks, the…
About the Asbury ‘revival’: Time will tell
“Revival” has got to be one of the most misused, misunderstood and abused words in the language of the church. I grew up singing the old gospel hymn “Lord, Send a Revival,” so I’m well-soaked in the terminology. I’m even…