It may not be enough to keep women from preaching in church. They’re likely a danger leading music as well, according to an advocate for strict male leadership. On Feb. 27, Dale Partridge, president of Relearn.org and founder of Reformation…
The pandemic gave Jim Cymbala a new window on church
As Pastor Jim Cymbala sat looking through the windows of his condo in Florida that day in March 2020, he knew the world never would be the same. “I went down on March 8, 2020, to get away and planned…
Learning to tell time as a minister
Remember the 1960s song from the group Chicago, “Does Anyone Know What Time It Is?” This is an excellent question for a new year, especially as one does ministry. I retired as senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Abilene,…
Seven things to unlearn and learn this year
I don’t recall where I first heard the phrase. Perhaps it was Father Richard Rohr in Breathing Under Water. He wrote: “All mature spirituality, in one sense or another, is about letting go and unlearning.” Several years ago, the ministerial…
Year in review: Practical helps for clergy and lay leaders
Clergy and church lay leaders make up an important subset of BNG’s regular readers, and our content reflects this as we often present articles addressing the inner workings of church life. These include both news articles and opinion pieces written…
Escaping the current double bind in church leadership
Listening to clergy, church staff, lay leaders, they describe being caught in the classic double bind. On the one hand, they want their churches to flourish in this emerging new environment. The pandemic is largely over, presenting wonderful opportunities for…
The myth of the Good Shepherd
“The Good Shepherd” is a mosaic dating back to 425 AD that sits over the entrance to the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy. I have often wondered what Christianity would look like if the parables of Jesus found…
I pray for a day when the ordination of women is no longer a concern
It is encouraging and difficult to digest the information in the report on the State of Women in Baptist Life. One set of numbers that caught my eye is dedicated to the number of women ordained in the Baptist tradition….
This is my body
The traumas and burdens inflicted by COVID-19 are borne in our bodies, brains, hearts and communities. Physician Bessle van der Kolk explores the connection between trauma, the brain and the body in his fascinating book The Body Keeps the Score….