I am divorced. There, I said it. It has taken me five years to write those three words publicly. Five years of learning how to tell my story without telling “that” part of my story. Five years of talking about…
Another Black man was found hanging Friday
Another Black man was found hanging Friday. His name was Demetrius Fleming. He was 38 years old. Fleming was found Aug. 21 in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., connected to a ligature. His death remains under investigation. Police Chief Lawrence Wiggins has…
Could Jesus preach in our churches today?
“Will our congregations even allow us to preach sermons that change people?” It was a passing comment in the middle of a conversation with a friend over coffee. He didn’t ask whether pastors were capable. He didn’t ask whether seminaries…
In conversation with George Mason
Retirement is one of the strangest words in the Christian vocabulary. We know how CEOs retire, athletes retire and politicians retire. They shake a few hands, kiss a few babies, give a farewell speech, collect a plaque engraved with their…
’Round midnight
It is midnight. Not the kind of midnight measured by clocks. The kind that settles into your bones. The kind that lingers long after the sun has risen. We all know this midnight. It is the midnight of the marriage…
In conversation with Art Wright
Drive into Williamsburg, Va., from the west and you will see it before you see the church. A rainbow-striped banner. Designed by a pastor who cannot fully explain why he made it, only that it needed to say something true…
This Fourth of July, will you get your hands in the dirt?
This Fourth of July, somewhere in America, a church will drag the American flag over to the altar and call it worship. A preacher will stand in a pulpit built for the gospel and preach nationalism instead, and no one…
Purple churches and ‘moderate’ Baptists: A theological response
In recent weeks, BNG published two pieces that emerge from a similar progressive theological position. The first is Mark Wingfield’s “Here’s What I Hear When You Say You’re A ‘Purple’ Church.” The second is Braxton Wade’s “Why Are We Still…
Why are we still calling ourselves ‘moderate’ Baptists?
A few weeks ago, I sat with a Baptist leader who described himself as a “moderate Baptist.” He meant it as a compliment, and most people in our circles would receive it that way. After all, “moderate” is one of…
To understand today’s SBC, listen to history
Across America this week, Baptist women are carrying a familiar weight. Some are pastors who have faithfully answered the call of God, only to watch the Southern Baptist Convention debate whether God possibly could have called them. Some are seminary…
We are manna
I’ve been tired, and I know I’m not alone in that. People are tired. Not inconvenienced. Not stressed but tired, bone tired as the seasoned saints used to say. Wars are waging in the Congo, Iran and Palestine while cable…
The moral side of redistricting
Virginia voters said yes. That is what makes this moment so revealing. In April, Virginians narrowly voted on and approved a constitutional amendment that would have allowed lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections….