I have a love/hate relationship with boundaries. On the plus side, they protect my family and me and all that I care about. Years ago a friend said, “Your right to swing your arm stops where my nose starts.” I…
More Wednesdays, fewer Thursdays
By Bill Wilson How quickly our conversations can go from theoretical to all-too-real. Last Wednesday, I spent a rewarding day in Tennessee on a retreat with 45 ministers and staff members thinking through the unique and profound pressures of ministry…
If fear wins the day
Michael Helms Helen Cooper is a writer for the New York Times. Her coverage of the Ebola crisis is unique because she was born in Liberia and she still has family living there. Having immigrated to the United States, she…
A new day in America
We are entering a new day in America. Do you feel excited yet? New things always bring with them a bit of trepidation, but there’s so much buzz about this particular new day that it can’t be bad, right? Well,…
Fliers on our windows
By Alan Sherouse To the person who canvased the First Baptist Church parking lot with political leaflets last Sunday: Perhaps you missed our “No Soliciting” sign. That I can understand. Perhaps a large parking lot full of cars was too…
Responding with love to mental illness
One in four Americans annually experience mental health issues ranging in severity from temporary psychological distress to serious depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, yet less than one-third of these Americans receives appropriate care, often because of the stigma associated with…
This kind of denomination IS dead
Anyone who has followed my lifelong trek through the maze of denominational staff service, and consulting and coaching with denominational organizations, knows that I believe in denominations. I also believe they have a future that respects their past and present….
What our languages are telling us, part 2
By John Chandler Last column, I wrote about global trends in spoken languages. I’d like to follow up with observations from writer David Pegg about which of these languages are waxing and waning in global influence. Ranking by impact rather…
Jesus: A political enigma
By Seth Vopat November is here! I am counting down the days until my mailbox will no longer be stuffed with the same negative jargon of competing political candidates. I cannot wait until our television will no longer be bombarded…
What happens when life and scripture diverge?
As I suspect has been the case with many BNG readers, I have been following Dr. David Gushee’s recent series of articles making what he sees as the case that homosexual relationships should be given a moral status that is…
The theo-politics of near/far
By Jason Coker One of the most endearing and memorable skit on Sesame Street is Grover’s epic near/far demonstration. I’ve never been able to forget it since I was a child, and the skit actually is just a little bit…
This is what we do
By Mark Wingfield Long before Ebola came to Dallas, our senior pastor became infamous among staff for this pithy response to the challenges of church work: “This is what we do.” Typically, this response is given when someone has asked…