“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….
On women in church leadership: When you know better, you do better
The report on The State of Women in Baptist Life is only a couple of weeks old and already has caused quite a stir. And rightly so. From excellent opinion pieces calling for repentance to recognition and a call for…
Letter to the Editor: The importance of establishing best practices for pastoral searches
Letter to the Editor June 17, 2022 Dear Editor: In a 2014 article in BNG, writer Marion Aldridge penned an excellent piece on pastoral search committees. According to the article, “Even a tiny, troubled Baptist church can get 100 resumes.”…
What could the church learn from Amazon?
In 1994, Jeff Bezos left a lucrative job as an investment banker on Wall Street to start a company selling books on a new technology called the internet. Two years later, I left a non-lucrative career in ministry and entered…
Zoom, zoom, zoom … Some pastors aren’t revved up for continued online church
It took a couple of years, but Elizabeth Mangham Lott finally hit her bottom with doing online church by the end of January. “Y’all, this Zoom church stuff is crushing me today. I don’t wanna do it. And I don’t…
7 signs it’s time to move on
As a full-time pastor for more than 25 years, I’ve never been without employment — until now. In December 2021, I stepped down as the senior pastor of my church without another ministry position or job of any kind. Leading…
12 cures for the hollow church
It’s been several years since the huge oak on the property of First Church came crashing down into the empty parking lot one Saturday night. A blast of straight-line winds proved more than the 250-year-old icon could withstand. The tree…