Tom Graves will be remembered as a devoted husband, father, grandfather, mischievous brother and faithful son — as a thoughtful professor, a powerful orator, a good pastor and a strong leader. I personally remember him as the founding president of Baptist…
Talking about a controversial Country song at Bubba-Doo’s
There are questions I’m not always in a hurry to answer because of what I do. When you’ve been asked to remain as politically neutral as humanly possible so you can minister to a wide variety of people, the littlest…
‘Try That in A Small Town’
We already tried that, and it didn’t work out so well. For some people. The small town was Money, Miss., population less than a hundred. Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was accused of whistling at a white woman. They took care of…
Joseph and Baylor: Deceiving ourselves
The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis is a common one many of us learned in church or through the popular musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. While it may be an ancient story, it bears relevance…
We have to talk about race when it comes to Willie McLaurin
Willie McLaurin is my friend. However, he doesn’t get a pass from me for lying on his resume. I believe he set the influence of Black Southern Baptists back by two decades or more. If you would have asked me…
A Baptist by any other name would …
These days, it appears Baptist churches and individuals across the theological spectrum are, for a variety of reasons, calling the very name “Baptist” into question. Truth is, that particular Protestant movement was called into question long before the name “Baptist”…
On evangelicals, plagiarism and false academic credentials
Recently, I read about a major leader in a large evangelical denomination who had paid for and plagiarized many of his sermons. I also read the tragic tale of another very respected evangelical “apologist” who claimed to have studied at…
A tough mind and a tender heart
Recently a pair of mourning doves chose a high shelf on the front of our home to build their nest. They flew back and forth for days, twigs in their beaks, cooing excitedly. When the delicate construction was complete, it…
Progression or regression: Racism and women
He was tall, dark and handsome. As his ebony skin glistened in the sunlight, he looked like a Nigerian king. John Lawale was introduced to Jesus by the preaching of Josephine Scaggs, a Southern Baptist missionary from Sapulpa, Okla. She…