It may now seem surprising to many United Methodists, and even more Baptists, that for most of our histories in the United States, all Methodists and Baptists were regularly designated as evangelical denominations. The most important reason is that both...
2020 has been one heckuva year. The bad news is, it isn’t over. If I am reading the tea leaves correctly, we are in for a wild ride these next few months. Between now and the end of the year,…
What would you say is the best gift a transitional pastor can give a congregation? Most traditional interim training programs land heavily on the idea that the primary task of a church in transition is dealing with grief. Thus, much…
It’s always about power, don’t you know? If that hasn’t become obvious to you in the past week, then you suffer from hardening of the categories caused by hyper-partisanship. I was on three calls just Wednesday asking me about how…
There is something liberating for Serena Buckner about shielding immigrants from persecution by the federal government, even if it means running afoul of the law. What would be scary about the sanctuary movement instead is inspiring because it’s a way…
Donald Trump has spent the past several months attacking vote-by-mail, going so far as to encourage North Carolina voters to vote twice (by mail and at the polls — which is illegal). Nonetheless, white evangelical support for Trump remains high,…
As a funeral director, I sit across from families trying to process their grief. Just about any funeral director you’ll meet will tell you that no two families are exactly alike. Some families really open up, and their faces light…
How many articles and blog posts have come across your computer screen recently describing the angst of pastoral leaders? It seems nearly every author, blogger, denominational minister, coach, consultant and anyone else who serves alongside pastors and church staff persons…
Noah spent less time surviving a global flood in his ark than it has taken for Pastor John MacArthur and Los Angeles County to sort out their fight over public health restrictions due to the threat of a global pandemic….
Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Ryan Busby, to First Baptist Church, Danville, Va., as senior pastor. He comes from the pastorate of Bosqueville…
Despite drastic reductions in legal immigration to the United States under the Trump administration, Americans continue to express positive attitudes about immigrants and the benefits of welcoming these newcomers. New data from Gallup finds the United States among the “most-accepting…
David Vaught went to the U.S. Military Academy in 1965, war raging at home and abroad, to defend the Constitution. Fueling his patriotism was a deep-seated Baptist faith imbued with a passion for the First Amendment. But those values led…
Deep and terrible divisions wrack American society. Sober observers are concerned that the sporadic protests and counterprotests, the riots and gun-toting militias we have spotted this summer could give way to intensified nationwide civil strife this late fall if the…
