“They stole $77,000. And that was all of my savings.” Her voice was so soft I (Doug) had to lean in to hear her. “I’ve talked with the local police, the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission. The money is...
Back during the heated battle for control of the Southern Baptist Convention, Ed Young once chided the denominational press for seeking information about a fundamentalist leader who had done something untoward. I can’t remember who had committed the sin or…
Los Angeles County has asked that Pastor John MacArthur and his Grace Community Church be held in contempt of court for violating a court order not to hold indoor worship services on Sunday, Aug. 16. A hearing is set on…
There’s a lot going on in global ministry in response to the coronavirus outbreak, and that means there’s a lot going on at the Baptist World Alliance. The Falls Church, Va.-based international ministry is responding spiritually and financially to the…
Sioux City, like most towns in the rural Midwest, went heavily for Trump in 2016. It was there that the Republican candidate claimed he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue without losing votes. Many of the Sioux Center residents interviewed…
In the New York Times on Ash Wednesday, February 26, 2020, an op-ed appeared by historian Jon Meacham which he titled, “Jesus May Be the Best Hope Against an Amoral President,” and he observed “history suggests that religiously inspired activism may hold the best hope for those in resistance to the prevailing Trumpian order.”
I never have had a tattoo on my body, although every time we go down to Daytona Beach on vacation, I tell my wife I think it’s about time. There are parlors everywhere and “it would be discreet,” I say. I’m not…
In my little town in Oregon, I saw a car with two Confederate flags and a bumper sticker that said, “Powered by Haters.” My shock at the blatant declaration did not translate into any direct action, and I wondered what,…
The idea that Millennials are attracted mostly to contemporary worship services is largely an outdated stereotype — at least in moderate and progressive Baptist settings, say ministers who serve young adults and youth. Instead, young adults are hungry for churches…
The untimely death of a visionary African bishop and the disclosure of a traditionalist faction’s plans for a new denomination have reset the playing field for the United Methodist Church’s future. With that reset have come allegations of neocolonialism and…
In a widely circulating op-ed in the New York Times, Elizabeth Dias describes a speech then presidential candidate Donald Trump gave at a small evangelical college, Dordt University in Center City, Iowa. The most famous, or infamous, remark in his…
A surge in coronavirus infections along the U.S.-Mexico border is impacting the ranks of clergy who minister to refugees, immigrants and other at-risk groups. Aid organizations and news outlets have consistently reported especially high COVID-19 rates in parts of Mexico…
Christian missionaries face a world of challenges even in “normal” times — unfriendly governments, hostile social and religious forces, cultural barriers and language struggles, to name a few. Now, a global pandemic has made the basic acts of travel and…
