A letter to my ‘future self’ has 3 suggestions: Do less and be more. Slow down. Go deep.
White Baptists and racial reconciliation: there’s a difference between lament and repentance
Imagine what the Holy Spirit might accomplish if Southern Seminary spent the next 150 years intentionally preparing people for ministry careers based on the gospel of liberation and justice rather than the slaveholder theology and hermeneutic and heresies of white supremacy, white religious nationalism and imperialism.
Caught in the middle: Is there still a place for Centrist Baptists like me?
I supported the moderate Baptist movement among Southern Baptists back in the 1980s. But I never dreamed we would end up where a Centrist Baptist like me would find connecting to be so hard.
3 words for the church in 2019: ‘we were wrong’
If the church of Jesus Christ is to be relevant in our mission, if we are to be agents of God’s reconciling love, we’ve got to take a hard look in the mirror. And in God’s grace to muster the courage to say we were wrong.
Most-read BNG opinion articles in 2018
In case you missed them, we compiled 11 of the top opinion articles that were among the most-read articles at baptistnews.com in 2018.
Baptists among Benedictines: spending the first week of the new year at the Abbey
The first week of a new year, a group of Baptist seminary students and I will join the Benedictines at the Abbey for worship, contemplation and learning from Benedictine spirituality.
Southern Babtoys Corporation: a satirical look at the pervasive problem of clergy sexual abuse
Most people wouldn’t accept excuses from a company whose product caused serious injuries to children. So why do people accept evasive explanations from a Baptist denomination for clergy sex abuse?
American racism, 1619-2019: exorcism of this demon is needed – now
I am forced to ask: what am I promoting as gospel right now that later generations will document, repudiate and apologize for? I can’t repent of the racism of my Baptist ancestors if I won’t repent of racism in myself and my own segment of American culture right now.
Preaching the ‘red letters’ often makes congregations red in the face
The next time you think your pastor is being “too political” or “not evangelistic enough” or should “preach the gospel more,” give yourself a simple test: How does what your pastor preaches line up with the words of Jesus?