In part one I told you the story of a couple of gay New York hoteliers who met with Ted Cruz and were treated as a result to calls for a boycott and other harassments. This situation prompted me to…
Callings
By Bill Leonard “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share…
God’s knows the heart of single adults. Do you?
Recently a ministry acquaintance posted a very personal statement on Facebook about her life as a single adult and an affirmation of her worth and value as a person of worth created in the image of God to live and…
What kind of church are we building?
By Amy Butler Yesterday when I pronounced the benediction at the end of worship, I told the congregation to gather all the courage they could muster, turn from the work of worship, and go out to change the world. Honestly,…
A Scripture lesson on fundamentalism (and how progressives differ from conservatives)
The seventh chapter of John offers some important insights into the nature of fundamentalism. Consider the following: Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? And here…
Can we be moderate and judgmental at the same time?
The first clue should have been when the Internet trolls didn’t immediately show up and condemn me as a liberal heretic. And then when some normally affirming voices fell curiously silent, it became obvious something was amiss. This response—or lack…
The new normal for churches
By Scott Dickison Reading the by-now-infamous Pew Research Center’s report on the state of religious affiliation in America this past week, I was taken back to a conversation I had as a divinity school student with an undergraduate considering ministry….
Reframing church membership
Shifting from membership to missionary engagements When the world we are called to reach is increasingly secular, unchurched, de-churched and non- interested in church, it’s time to reframe membership policies and practices. ‘Membership’ served a church culture fairly well. Today,…
Libby Allen’s bucket list
By Brett Younger Someone in the housing office — not Libby, someone not as competent as Libby — loses my paperwork. I arrive as a new student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1983 and a young woman who, given…
Welcome to the church of the casserole
Many non-mega congregations mistakenly believe they do not have any competitive advantages over a nearby mega church or one of its satellite campuses. Once again they are wrong. Their first mistake is the believing they have to compete. Beyond that…
Fledglings take flight
By Molly T. Marshall I have recently learned that there are eagle voyeurs in our midst. Normal people otherwise, they are absolutely fanatics when it comes to following the progress of these raptors. Through the wonders of “eagle cams,” which…
How do we get along when there’s no middle ground? Part 1
The other day, as I was reading one of the daily news emails that arrive in my inbox, I came across a story that I thought surely must have been ripped from the pages of The Onion. Two New York…