Few things invite the kind of eyes-shut-grab-the-mic-and-bang-out-a-couple-of-quick-bars-of-life-is-a-highway quite like spending two weeks snowed-in under a suffocating pile of things entitled something along the lines of “5 ways to tell if your dog is hiding an addiction from whatever Harry Potter character…
Scouting for tolerance
In June of 2013 the Boy Scouts of America announced a policy change. The organization would reverse a longstanding policy and allow openly gay scouts to participate in the organization. I wrote then that the BSA’s attempt to please everybody…
Be afraid, be very afraid
By Jason Coker A couple of weeks ago my whole family went to a “buy-in-bulk” store on a Saturday (never do this)! We live in a cold weather climate, so all the snow that has been collected in the parking…
Lessons from the church bus
As a youth minister I have spent countless hours driving our church bus, Big Rhonda. She and I have a love hate relationship that started with a six hour drive back from a mission trip in July with no AC….
Creative destruction and disorienting missional engagement transform congregations
Creative destruction and disorienting missional engagement are essential practices for congregations after the first generation of their journey. Focusing on these two things will positively impact the vitality and vibrancy of congregations. When the first generation of the journey of…
The night Dean Smith came to the RA banquet
By Bill Wilson RA — shorthand for Royal Ambassadors. It was a weekly group for grade-school boys that sought to blend scouting-type activities with a call to missions. Lawndale Baptist church in Greensboro, N.C., where I grew up in the…
Leaving Fred Craddock’s funeral, yearning just to be Christian
I was early to Fred Craddock’s funeral. Cherry Log Christian Church is less than two hours from Atlanta, but a trip to Appalachia seems farther so I gave myself way too much time. I had been told to eat at…
The ‘next America’ demands change from churches
The headline for this column is misleading. The “next America” actually is the “now America.” To paraphrase the late cartoon character Pogo, “We have seen the future, and it is here.” And it means most Baptist congregations and their denomination…
Secularism rising: How should Christians respond?
By Bill Leonard “Secularization is the historical process whereby religious faith, religious involvement, religious identification, and religious institutions weaken, fade or become less significant in society. And while secularization is in no way inevitable or irreversible … when we look…
Eyes wide open
After Sunday’s service, a friend emailed me a confession: He kept his eyes open during Prayers of the People, which I led this week. It was a Lenten prayer about finding beauty in dry places, the hand of God in…
Churches on the chamber of commerce list
Economic development. Networking. Community engagement. These phrases may come to mind when someone thinks about chambers of commerce. Varying in size and capacity, they mobilize businesses and organizations in order to promote economic growth. And, yes, they’re known to engage…
Making grace, not punishment, the default setting
By Amy Butler I think Michelle Alexander is a theologian. I mean, she’s a reluctant theologian for sure, but a theologian nonetheless. This is a designation to which, if you think about it, we should all aspire — both the…