Messengers to next week’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting who arrive in Orlando by plane will be greeted by a surprising billboard on their drive from the airport to the convention center. Baptist Women in Ministry has purchased space on...
Not only is this week Thanksgiving in America, it’s also the beginning of the Advent season for most Christians in the United States. That means a variety of online devotional resources are popping up for the season ahead. “Advent” is…
Thirteen U.S. senators and representatives have written to the acting director of the Internal Revenue Service urging him to continue enforcement of the Johnson Amendment that prevents churches and other charities from endorsing political candidates. The IRS announced July 7…
The Trump administration’s ruling that nurses no longer will be considered “professionals” by the U.S. Department of Education has a direct effect on the nation’s faith-based schools. Health care in general and nursing in particular have a long and interconnected…
One of my predecessors as pastor at Myers Park Baptist Church was the great Carlyle Marney, who confessed, “The real crisis for me was in Charlotte” where he was caught in a web of socio-economic forces that included “money, banking,…
Parents must lean into communities of affirmation to endure the religious, cultural and political backlash that comes with parenting gender nonconforming children, author Sim Butler said. Butler said his new book, The Dragons Do Come: Raising a Transgender Kid in…
A former youth pastor at four Texas churches is facing a slew of new criminal charges as his long-delayed trial is now set to begin Dec. 1. The new indictment returned by a grand jury three months ago charges Luke…
On Thanksgiving Day, when my sons and I sit down for dinner, we will be joined by a gentleman who spent the past 12 years living the harrowing life of an unhoused person. While living on the streets, he suffered…
Not long ago, a search committee called to share their final discernment after months of conversations, sermons, prayers and emails. Their words were familiar, almost rehearsed by the collective memory of Black clergy everywhere. They told me it had become…
Julie Pennington Russell called me last month. I had just finished a centering prayer group, a practice Pastor Julie helped nurture in me, and I began to weep when I saw her name on my phone. I was so grateful…
A reelection campaign pledge by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is a further attempt to “eliminate public education,” according to Charles Foster Johnson, executive director of Pastors for Texas Children. In announcing his unusual bid for a fourth term as governor…
Last Christmas Eve, a new post appeared in one of my clergywomen groups on social media. It began, “How many pastors are sitting at their desks crying this morning? Just me?” Spoiler alert: It wasn’t just her. The replies started…
Donald Trump’s debasement of the presidency was on full display Nov. 18 in the hero’s welcome offered the murderous leader of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Although not labeled as such, the heir apparent to the Saudi throne’s visit to Washington had all the…
