In order to keep in touch with parishioners, many pastors make phone calls, send greeting cards, emails, text and direct messages. This is the result of multi-generational ministry and the influence of social media. In an effort to reach our…
Going to bat — the only way humans thrive
I can’t think of many times in my life when I have felt as if no one would go to bat for me. In fact, whenever I tell the story of how I came to faith and later discerned a…
Works — the fitting response to God’s lavish grace
Have you considered what you want on your tombstone? The husband of a close friend said she would have these words, “I am fine, really!” Mine will probably be inscribed with a limerick: Here lies the theologian named Molly T.,…
When all seems lost, apply the 20-year test
There is a school of thought running rampant in congregations these days that sounds something like this: “This is the worst Pastor/Group/Recession/President/Situation/Era/Event that we have ever known! We must get rid of him/her/it/them immediately or we are doomed.” As a…
Lessons in discrimination: You’ve got to be carefully taught
My first lesson in prejudice and discrimination occurred at the impressionable age of 5. I grew up in North Carolina as the daughter of tobacco farmers and devoted church-going parents in a community consisting of other family farmers, tenant farmers…
Finding a way forward: A church rooted in its community
Just over two and a half years ago, I stepped into the pulpit at St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church for the first time and preached about the uncertain future we were entering together. Like so many churches across the United…
Any questions for us? The critical point in a church search committee interview
In the last few years, I’ve found myself sitting in a number of interviews as our church — First Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C. — has sought and called several new ministers, including me. With seminarians counting down to graduation…
The religion of the New Lost Cause
At Maundy Thursday worship in Wake Forest University’s Davis Chapel, the day after Gov. Pat McCrory signed NC House Bill 2, a transgender divinity school student washed the feet of an African Pentecostal student as the Gospel text from John…
Atheist ministers, the search for meaning and the future of the Church
This week I watched a news story from CTV in Canada that quoted “atheist minister” Gretta Vosper, who serves at a church with the word “Christ” in its name. First of all, I’m mind-blown by the phrase “atheist minister.” More…
North Carolina: Seeming rather than being
I like calling North Carolina home. It has always been home for me, and I have all of my North Carolina native bona fides to prove it. State bird: cardinal. State shell: Scotch bonnet. State tree: longleaf pine. State mammal:…
‘Do you want to see?’
To see or not to see. Perhaps that is the question on this side of Easter. When the women came to the empty tomb in the garden, they saw a missing body, not resurrection — until two men in dazzling…
6 essentials for churches engaging Millennials
While Millennials are less churched than most generations, data has shown they are no less spiritual. So why aren’t they in our pews? The longer I have examined this question, the more I’ve been convinced it is the wrong one….