By Joe Phelps In January I was ticketed for failing to follow directions at the scene of an accident. I was innocent, I tell you. I know. Everyone says that. But righteous indignation compelled me to have my day in…
Life isn’t fair
By Amy Butler I grew up in a family with five children, so I don’t really recall life ever being very fair. There was always somebody who got more ice cream or less consequences than I did. Much of the…
Age segregation in worship
In the last 30 years, age-segmented worship was an unforeseen effect of the contemporary worship movement within Christianity. What has developed in many (not all) churches are two worship services. A traditional service with older adults and a commentary service…
Are church camps and conference centers going away?
By George Bullard What is your most memorable experience at a church camp or conference center? Write it down quickly before these camps and conference centers disappear. My first remembrance of Ridgecrest Conference Center in western North Carolina is when…
Why we need a ‘Third Way’
By Alan Bean Danny Cortez is the pastor of a small Southern Baptist Church in La Mirada, Calif. A few weeks ago, he created a stir in Baptistland by calling for a “Third Way” on gay marriage. In a letter…
Will you be known when you die?
Years ago, there was a national ad campaign aimed at helping Americans understand the importance of going to church. One of my favorite ads in the series showed pallbearers carrying a casket in the front door of a church. The…
Treasuring and transcending culture
By Molly T. Marshall “Where are you from?” is one of the most frequent questions posed when getting to know another. Recently, leaders of a local Korean congregation invited me to dinner, a lovely affair that did not require my…
Closing the mentoring gap
By Eileen Campbell-Reed This week more than 2,000 Baptists, who openly support the call of women to pastoral ministry, will gather in Atlanta for worship, learning and networking. The General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and annual meeting of…
Why we need a “third way” on gay rights
Danny Cortez is the pastor of a small Southern Baptist Church in La Mirada, Calif. A few weeks ago, he created a stir in Baptistland by calling for a “third way” on gay marriage. In a letter to his congregation,…
How to throw away a Bible
By Alan Rudnick After some saints of my church decided to clear out our Sunday school storage area (who wants to do that job?), an unusual question was posed: “What do we do with damaged Bibles?” I was not quite…
Are church camps, conference centers going away?
What is your most memorable experience at a church camp or conference center? Write it down quickly before these camps and conference centers disappear. My first remembrance of Ridgecrest Conference Center in western North Carolina is when I was five…
Vital Christianity: As I see it
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Here on the eve of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly meeting in Atlanta, and with other national religious conventions recently in the news (for better or for worse), I choose to articulate what…