On Good Friday, many of the white churches move quickly. They acknowledge the Cross, they sometimes name the injustice, and — almost instinctively — begin inching toward Easter, toward hope, toward resurrection, toward resolution. They quickly leave Friday and rush…
Letter to my mother, my pastor
Dear Momma, Every March the church pauses to name Baptist Women in Ministry Month. Churches host panels, women write articles, women fill pulpits and deliver sermons about the long road women have walked just to stand behind a pulpit as…
An appeal to the laity
I appreciate Braxton Wade’s BNG piece, “When the Church Confuses Vocation with Calling” and his challenge for churches to open themselves to the Spirit’s unveiling of a pastor who comes clothed in skin or gender not usually recognized as conveying…
Meredith Miller calls the church to wonder
In May 2020, many pastors held their breath as they released statements and stumbled over how to respond to the murder of George Floyd. Meredith Miller responded with formation. Making her Instagram account public, Miller began to write about faith…
‘You don’t know the half’ of the Good Samaritan story
In a sermon at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference preached from Luke 10:29–35, Reginald Sharpe Jr. circled a phrase that refuses to let the church remain comfortable: “You don’t know the half.” Sharpe did not give us a scholarly sermon…
When the church confuses vocation with calling
Across several denominations, pastors are leaving congregations at accelerated rates, citing burnout, conflict and misalignment between their sense of calling and the realities of congregational life. Much of that conversation has focused on workload, compensation and leadership fatigue — all…
When Christians welcome immigrant souls but not their bodies
Within the last two weeks, Franklin Graham has publicly celebrated what he describes as hundreds of people responding to the invitation to repent during evangelistic events in Argentina. Images of crowds and language of spiritual breakthrough have echoed a revivalist…
Black History Month is not about you, but it is for you
I want to speak directly to my white friends, white Christians and especially white clergy colleagues during Black History Month. I’m writing to you not as an adversary or a critic, but as someone who has prayed with you, eaten…
What should we learn from Hillsong and Sam Collier’s story?
When Sam Collier resigned from Hillsong Church in 2022 amid the unraveling of the church’s U.S. leadership and growing scrutiny of its internal culture, many assumed his public ministry had reached an inflection point, if not an end. However, three…
Are we OK with children going missing?
A child was taken. Taken from routine. Taken from familiarity. Taken from the quiet assumptions that adults would keep him safe. Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, moved across state lines, shipped to Texas…
Spiritual questions remain after Abyssinian’s gender-bias lawsuit dismissed
The recent dismissal of a gender-bias lawsuit involving Abyssinian Baptist Church, while constitutionally predictable is spiritually and theologically unfinished. A federal judge ruled the claims brought by Eboni Marshall Turman, a former assistant minister and nationally respected theologian and professor,…
At Baptist schools, debates about DEI are theological
Among Baptist-related universities, decisions about diversity, equity and inclusion are no longer simply administrative adjustments. They have become theological decisions in broader debates about identity, governance, theology and political risk. Recent developments, from Samford University’s closure of its DEI office…