I have coined a new word: Churchcraft. What I mean by Churchcraft is an individual’s ability to say and do the things that will help to build the organized church. My observation is that a lack of Churchcraft is the…
Conflict as blessing
By Bill Wilson Ask any minister, “What is the worst part of your job?” and nearly all will tell you, “Conflict!” Ask any congregation member what they like least about their church experience, and most will answer the same. Conflict…
Holy woman
By Bill Leonard She did not speak for five years. Raped by her mother’s boyfriend, “Mr. Freeman,” when she was 8 years old, Maya Angelou stopped speaking until she was 13, traumatized by sexual assault and her fear that Freeman’s…
Smart churches call 911 sooner rather than later
On a pleasant morning a few years ago at a church preschool, a 3-year-old boy fell backwards off a piece of playground equipment and hit his head. It was no one’s fault. It just happened. His symptoms indicated the need…
‘Can’t we just play nice?’
By Corey Fields “Look for the words ‘social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church website. If you find it, run as fast as you can.” That was the advice of Glenn Beck to his radio show listeners on March…
Why Paige Patterson broke the rules
Paige Patterson says it’s okay for a devout Muslim to study at Southwestern Theological Seminary. Why is this a big deal? I doubt the seminaries affiliated with American Baptist or Cooperative Baptist congregations would have a problem enrolling Ghassan Nagagreh,…
Know thy neighbor
By Brandon Hudson The wave Recently as I was driving into the neighborhood of the church I serve, I realized I was behind one of my church members at the stop sign. I waved furiously, hoping that he would look…
“Can’t we just play nice?”
“Look for the words ‘social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church website. If you find it, run as fast as you can.” That was the advice of Glenn Beck to his radio show listeners on March 2, 2010. It was…
Lessons before dying: Reflections from the bedside
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee In a spring in my life filled with illness, dying and death, here are a few hard lessons I have learned. To borrow from novelist Ernest Gaines, let’s call them “lessons before dying.” Perhaps…
Antibiotics: When “cheap and now” turns deadly
By John Chandler In his 1945 speech accepting the Nobel Prize for discovering penicillin, Alexander Fleming proved himself to be a prophet as well as a scientist. While hailing the cure for diseases that killed scores of our ancestors, and…
As rockets fall
By Heather Mustain As I prepared myself for a recent family trip to the Holy Land, I made sure to do all the things which, as a missions minister, I preach to others preparing for any short-term experience: Study the…
Beware of the backfire effect
“Daddy long-leg spiders are one of the most poisonous spiders but their fangs are too short to bite humans.” “All vaccines are deadly to all children.” You may heard those statements, but those statements are not true. Despite facts that disprove popular myths, some folks…