By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Many Christian colleges and seminaries are wrestling with the LGBT issue. Frequently in my visits to these schools over the last two decades this ubiquitous issue has come up, even when it is not…
Dreaming with God
By Bill Wilson I’ve made a transition in recent years in the way I think and talk about God’s will. For many people, the will of God is a mysterious, elusive and frustrating concept. Too often, we have made it…
A big day for Touching Miami with love
On Tuesday, September 30th, Miami Dade County’s Deputy Mayor Russell Benford shared an official proclama!on from the county declaring the day, Touching Miami with Love Day. This presenta!on occurred at Touching Miami with Love’s first annual our BIG Dreamers Award Luncheon in the…
Ebola ignorance
By Mark Wingfield Someone asked me why I included this phrase in my prayer at Wilshire Baptist Church’s worship service Sunday: “We pray that you would calm the anxious hearts of so many in our city. Help the ignorant to…
Remaining awake through a Pentecost
The author, who leads an intentional Christian community in Charlotte, N.C., attended the recent annual national conference of the Christian Community Development Association, a network of Christians committed to wholistic restoration for communities spiritually, emotionally, physically, economically and socially. This is…
on arks and alienation: or why building a 70 million dollar boat in the middle of Kentucky still seems like a bad idea.
These days it doesn’t take much to leave me feeling dismayed and embarrassed by the public image of the faith to which I’ve tethered my hopes, fears, dreams, and abilities to pay my mortgage. Which, is why I’m ever so…
Repentance is more than saying, ‘I’m sorry’
By Greg Jarrell The author, who leads an intentional Christian community in Charlotte, N.C., attended the recent annual national conference of the Christian Community Development Association, a network of Christians committed to wholistic restoration for communities spiritually, emotionally, physically, economically and…
Do you believe the Bible?
By Doyle Sager “Do you believe the Bible?” A simple, seemingly innocuous question, right? Not so fast. I was recently asked this question (out of the blue). When I inquired as to what had generated the question, the reply came…
Violence and vengeance
Ray should not have hit Janay. That is one problem, and here is another problem. At first, the NFL suspended Rice for two games. Some people were really upset that it was too little punishment. After additional video of the incident was…
The shocking un-truth about church budgets
By Amy Butler This is, hands down, the least favorite time of year for pastors everywhere: church budget planning season. Nobody likes budget planning, from the tedious work it entails to the way in which money necessarily informs the work…
How Hurricane Hugo broke a racial barrier
By George Bullard Twenty-five years ago Hurricane Hugo made landfall in the Charleston, S.C., area and brought significant destruction in almost two dozen counties. At that time I was working for Baptists in South Carolina and supervised the department that…
Healing (a parable)
Leah was getting burned out. She didn’t know if she could continue at this pace. The solutions were more draining than the problem. Leah had a troubled past. Having been abused by her father, rejected and used by other men,…