Last Friday, I attended the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina’s 30th anniversary gathering at First Baptist Church of Greensboro, N.C. The theme of “thriving together” took on particular interest to me as a young seminarian because of one of…
Baptists are body and blood related to Mary Magdalene
Baptists have made plenty of mistakes in how we regard women. Women have just begun to take a full stride as pastors in many of our networks and denominations, while the Southern Baptists still disallow women to serve as pastors….
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Sarah McCammon
Sarah McCammon is a national political correspondent for NPR (covering Donald Trump in the 2016 election), co-host of the NPR Politics Podcast, and the recipient of a 2023 Edward R. Murrow Award for her coverage of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision….
Being there
A few years ago, I helped an Afghan refugee find a job. He spoke very little English, but he had some plumbing experience from Afghanistan. I took him to an interview at a plumbing company in my town. I worried…
Can you hear him now?
Throughout most of the 2000s, Americans grew accustomed to an ever-present ad campaign with the tagline, “Can you hear me now?” Actor-pitchman Paul Marcarelli showed up all over the place, boasting of the reach of Verizon Wireless service where other…
Searching for Grace: Worst-kept secret
This is the third of a five-part fictional story set in the early 1990s about Paul Graham and his congregation, Grace United Church of Christ. Previously, Paul made the difficult but necessary decision to leave the Southern Baptist Convention and…
‘None shall pass’
“I have no quarrel with you, good Sir Knight,” says King Arthur, “but I must cross this bridge.” “None shall pass!” declares the Black Knight. “I move for no man!” So one of the most farcical fight scenes in cinema…
The Catholic Court
Evangelicals have gotten all the attention, but it is the Catholics that are reshaping American life. By Catholics, I mean the six Roman Catholics that comprise the conservative super-majority on the United States Supreme Court: John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel…
10 practices to help us cultivate a Jesus worldview
Irish singer and songwriter Bono of the band U2 confesses, “I believe Jesus is the Son of God; if we could be more like him, the world would be transformed.” It’s one thing to confess, “I believe in Jesus.” It’s…