On Christmas Eve in my church I looked to my left and saw a Chreaster family sitting in the next section of pews. Although the service was crowded, I hoped that I could arrange to greet them at the conclusion…
Should a dying church be repurposed?
It seems that I’m stuck on thinking about dying or dead churches. Why so grim, Alan? That is a good question. It seems that folks are interested in talking about this topic. For some odd reason, I’ve been thinking about…
Baptists should heed mother’s plea
By Christa Brown A mother, who says her son was repeatedly molested by a minister at one of the Southern Baptist Convention’s largest churches, claims the church needs to come clean about a cover-up of child sexual abuse. “I want…
Lessons from the catwalk
In the fashion and entertainment world, many famous, infamous, and “wanna-be” famous individuals have strutted up and down catwalks, modeling the latest fashions and amazing audiences with their ability to appear in one full-fledged ensemble, disappear, and suddenly reappear with…
Acoustic smog
A little while back I bought The Green Bible. For me it was a small step towards environmental sustainability, but I must admit that I haven’t started a garden yet, although I’ve wanted to. And sometimes I don’t recycle, even…
Put your heart into it
By Bill Wilson Recently, our staff was talking about things our parents would tell us that we find ourselves repeating to our children or ourselves. We had to admit that we increasingly sound like those voices we vowed never to…
Funeral food
There are some rules everyone needs to understand about death and funerals. For starters, funerals call for a certain kind of food. There had better be chocolate cake involved, or the family is going to be left to scramble on…
Theology is important
Understanding theology is important. Even those who are dismissive of religion need to take some time to understand the important implications of theology in our world today. While religion is never the entire reason for some of the problems we…
Aliens knocking at the church’s door
By Miguel De La Torre The beloved apostle John, while exiled on the island of Patmos, writes a letter to the Christian church of Laodicea. He accuses the church of being neither cold nor hot. Because they are lukewarm, God…
Aliens knocking at the church’s door
By Miguel De La Torre The beloved apostle John, while exiled on the island of Patmos, wrote a letter to the Christian church of Laodicea. He accused the church of being neither cold nor hot. Because they were lukewarm, God…
Church matters
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved church. About the only thing I ever resisted was singing in the children’s choir because I considered the robes with their big floppy bows as an affront to my eight-year-old…
Coaching youth ministers
I am a youth minister and have 20 years of experience. I am passionate about youth ministry, and I have great admiration for those who minister to youth. Consequently, I coach youth ministers. I have a handful of clients, all…