I know a pastor who left a large, suburban church where he served for 25 years to plant a new church in one of the poorest areas of town. He joined with another non-profit and they formed a new LLC…
I am with her and her and her
No, this is not a political endorsement. I am not implying that I will vote for Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States or that you should. This is kind of a new revised version of her…
Our problem with humility
Humility has been called the master virtue. If one can grow in humility the rest of the spiritual life falls into place. Yet being humble is really hard and goes against the grain of everything our self-actualized culture professes. Humility…
Creating a culture of call in the church
In my interactions with churches across the country, one specific conversation nearly always emerges. With furrowed brows and a worried tone, they ask: “Where is the next generation of pastoral leadership for churches like ours going to come from?” The concern…
Like a good neighbor: The U.S. and Cuba
The United States is not there — at least not in relationship to our close neighbor, Cuba. Thanks to the tenacity of the church in the U.S. committed to God’s justice and love, and to President Obama, our neighborliness is…
A dose of kindness in the midst of a vitriolic presidential campaign
I am taking slow, deep breaths to center myself after a third presidential debate and another week of reading too many articles about our world, our nation and the upcoming election. When I scroll past another story, another statistic, a…
‘Locker room banter’: Nightmare for the Religious Right
“You can’t endorse me … but I endorse you and what you are doing.” That memorable phrase, delivered by presidential candidate Ronald Reagan at the Religious Roundtable National Affairs Briefing in Dallas in August 1980, highlighted the public beginnings of…
High school debates and the U.S. election: students acting like grown-ups, grown-ups acting like kids
When I was in high school I joined the debate team. Up to that point I hadn’t been very good at many other things, but in debate I placed in the first tournament in which I ever competed — the…
Beginnings, endings and finishing well
You never know when an ending is really God’s new beginning. It was during a meeting of adult Sunday school class leaders. When asked what classes were celebrating, a young man named Randy raised his hand. “I have a celebration,”…
Where to go from here: Re-imagining Charlotte
A few weeks ago, I saw the renderings of a new development headed to the edge of a gentrifying neighborhood in Charlotte, N.C. The space looked nice, like the kind of spot many Charlotteans would be excited to walk or…
Anatomy of a conference: Why God and guns?
At the beginning of October, The Riverside Church hosted God and Guns: Faith Leaders Address Gun Violence. Highlights from the day and video of the presentations can be found here. More than 100 faith leaders from across the country gathered in…
Churches need to talk about sexual assault
Last Thursday, Michelle Obama delivered a stirring speech on sexual assault and harassment before her standard stump speech for Hillary Clinton. Her words were of the kind that should not have to be said; nevertheless, Obama gave the sermon many…