Occasionally, there are days-and even moments within days-when heavy clouds pull in front of the sun, blocking its light from view and casting everything in the empty parking lot outside my office window, in shadows. A few years ago, I…
Protecting Christians and Yazidis: Elusive religious freedom
By Bill Leonard When the storm troopers of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took Mosul, they marked the homes of Christians with a red Arabic “N” for “Nazarene,” targeting those families for “extermination or expropriation.” That’s what…
The death of Mrs. Doubtfire
By Bob Setzer The death of Robin Williams hit me hard. While on sabbatical, Bambi and I have sought to insulate ourselves from the bad news that is a staple of the modern diet. Given spotty Internet connections and unfamiliar…
Jesus and brain science agree: money kills empathy
Although you would never know it from listening to American preaching, Jesus linked poverty with the kingdom of God and affluence with sin. The text of the first sermon Jesus preached was taken from Isaiah 61: The spirit of the…
The tears we need to shed
By Bill Wilson As a pastor, I’ve seen my share of tears. They show up in so many places: in hospitals, especially in emergency rooms, at funeral homes, in the office, in the delivery room, at the altar, during worship,…
Robin Williams and the church
By Alan Rudnick As most everyone has heard, Robin Williams died on Tuesday from an apparent suicide. The reaction on Facebook and Twitter was one of shock. How could someone who brought so much joy and humor to the world…
Needed: Christian ministers who do the stuff
A dramatic story—perhaps an urban legend—about John Wimber, one of the founders of the Vineyard Movement, relates to something that happened following his conversion to Christianity around 1963. It is said that he began attending a church nearby. After several…
If this is where you get off the bus: The LGBT issue, part 6
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee It should be clear by now that “the LGBT Issue” is by no means just one issue, and that its complexity requires a sufficiently complex response. Careful readers will see that my approach in…
Time for the church to respond to the mental health crisis
By Rob Lee This week, with the loss of comedic genius Robin Williams to apparent suicide, our nation has turned to a conversation of mental health. You can’t turn anywhere on the news or social media and not see conversations…
A matter of definition
Confession time: I really enjoyed the movie Frozen the first time I saw it. And the second. And the third. And the several dozen after that too. You see, two of my three kids are at a prime Disney age…
Closing the confidence gap
By John Chandler Imagine a tightrope stretched over a gorge. There are two figures attached to it. One is striding assuredly on top of the rope. The other is hanging on for dear life beneath the rope. According to a…
Standing up for religious liberty in Burma
In December of 2013, something remarkable happened. More than 30,000 people — including many Baptist leaders from around the world — gathered in Burma to celebrate the life and legacy of a man and woman they’d never met.