By Mark Wingfield In San Antonio, Texas, the façade of the historic San Fernando Cathedral has become the backdrop for a public art installation. A 24-minute video projection with music depicts the history of San Antonio by drawing and redrawing…
Excellence eludes pastors not passionate about vision
By George Bullard Early in my ministry I served on the national missions staff of my denomination. These were wonderful years. I served with a group of highly committed staff with a deep passion for helping leaders, congregations and local…
My brother, where art thou?
By Jason Coker In 2008, our local Presbyterian pastor and I co-lead our clergy association to create an organization in our town that would host a refugee family. Our local synagogue, some of our Muslim citizens, and nearly all our…
World religions, up close and personal
By Doyle Sager Remember when studies of world religions were abstract and theoretical? No more. The world has come to us. And it is messier than we imagined. While seminary courses and numerous websites are helpful in providing academic knowledge,…
A fair Christmas
By LeDayne McLeese Polaski “It’s not fair!” If you are a parent, you likely hear this several times a day — everything from dessert sizes to bedtimes are occasions for children to spot real or imagined unfairness. The truth is,…
The tired arms of ministers
By Bill Wilson A friend recently shared with me a daily devotion that pointed out the story in Exodus 17 regarding Moses’ arms. Remember? As long as Moses held his staff with his arms aloft, the Israelites prevailed in their…
The biblical reality of refugees
By Alan Rudnick As terrorist attacks impacted cities around the world like Paris and Beirut, we have learned that some of the terrorists falsely used refugee status to cross borders. As refugees continue to leave Syria in massive numbers, Republican…
Gold, frankincense and espresso
By Bill Leonard When the church’s Christmas witness wanes, let’s blame Starbucks. When our Advent hope falters, let’s fault the “war on Christmas.” When the “Gospel of Wealth” (Andrew Carnegie, 1889) fails to undergird our Bethlehem-borne faith, let’s whine about…
The story of the poor widow and giving, taxation and deep faith
By Chuck Queen What are we to make of the Gospel story of the poor widow who put in the temple treasury all she had to live on (Mark 12:41-44)? In the previous Markan paragraph Jesus denounces the self-righteousness of…
Looking for the ‘real’ Jesus
By Joe LaGuardia In the last 200 years of biblical research, scholars have outlined various “quests” for the historical Jesus. Each quest accompanies new insights into historical records and artifacts that emphasize some never-before-understood facet about Jesus of Nazareth. The…
10 not so good reasons for your congregation to affiliate with a denomination
By George Bullard You may have read my serious post responding to a real question from a real congregation where I provided 10 reasons for a non-denominational congregation to affiliate with a denomination. See it here. Now read my not-so-serious…
Love will conquer hate
By Amy Butler I recall the first time that I realized doctors did not know the solution to every medical problem. My thinking had been: when you have a scary, life threatening medical emergency, you go to see a medical…