By Gary Furr “Blue Like Jazz” arrived at selected theaters this past week, an odd stepchild among usual movie fare of aliens, vampires, and things that go boom. Derived from Donald Miller’s book by the same name, “Blue Like…
The future of the Arab Spring
By Jim Denison I am writing from Israel, where I lead a study tour each spring. From this vantage point, the status of the Arab Spring after a year is especially relevant. What is the future for this conflicted region?…
Ministry can be a rat race, literally
By Amy Butler Few people know how truly glamorous it is to be a pastor. We sit around reading and praying most days, sipping coffee and thinking deep thoughts about the state of the world and God and things like…
What will churches do about wounded vets?
By Zachary Bailes On Monday, it was announced that The Huffington Postwon the coveted Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. Beginning on Oct. 10, 2011, they ran a 10-part series titled “Beyond the Battlefield.” The series was an exploration of the…
Seeing and shooting
By Miguel De La Torre By now we are all familiar with the Feb. 26 tragic story surrounding the fatal shooting of the unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch crime captain, “stood…
A family conversation
By David Gushee Today is the registrationdeadline for the CBF/Mercer [Baptist] Conference on Sexuality and Covenant. Several hundred people have already registered and by all accounts many are profoundly interested in this week’s event. One last time, I would like…
Creatively outrageous congregations
By Bill Wilson I recently heard an interview with George Lois, a leader in the advertising world in the 1950s who helped revolutionize the industry. His innovations transformed advertising and made several of his clients into household names. I found…
Remembering Noah
By Bill Leonard “But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark” (Genesis 8:1). These days, I keep remembering Noah, reflecting on the relevance of his story then…
‘Stand your ground’ a national ethic?
By Zachary Bailes Throughout Easter weekend I kept thinking about Good Friday. In the wake of Trayvon Martin’s death, I wondered if the fear that put Jesus in the tomb was similar to the fear portrayed by “Stand Your Ground” today….