By Michael Parnell One of the things you find at Comic-Con is being in line or on a bus with a total stranger. As I mentioned in an earlier column, people here are generally very kind to each other. But…
A proper starting place
By Jonathan Waits With three parts out of several written and published, David Gushee’s careful examination of the issue of homosexuality and the church has been enjoyable reading. The care and sensitivity he is bringing to the issue combined with…
Comic-Con International day three: ‘Be excellent to each other’
By Michael Parnell What happens when you gather over 120,000 people in one place? What kind of problems occur in putting that many people together? One is the logistics of moving that many people from one place to another, which…
Comic-Con International day two: ‘God is disappointed in you’
By Michael Parnell With a title like that, I had to be a part of this panel. Panels are the biggest part of Comic-Con. They allow companies to promote things like movies and television shows. The panel with this title…
A Gospel story, a preacher and two governors
By Chuck Queen In the story of the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew 14:13-21, the writer basically follows Mark’s account, though Matthew omits Mark’s description of the crowd as sheep without a shepherd. I suspect he does so because…
Church shouldn’t be entitled to Sunday
By Seth Vopat “Sunday is no longer the sacred day of the week anymore!” is one of many complaints I hear repeatedly for why the church is dying today. In translation, this often refers to the fact that a variety…
I don’t think you know what that means
A popular misconception about professional Christianity is that most of us with business cards reading “pastor” love talking about church. I can’t tell you how many breathless conversations I’ve had with people about the font size of a worship guide,…
Comic-Con International day one: The day of greed
By Michael Parnell Comic-Con International kicked off its 2014 convention on Wednesday evening with what is called the “Preview Night.” The doors opened at six to allow attendees to see the exhibits in the large hall at the San Diego…
Does your congregation need a ‘church search committee’?
By Marion Aldridge What kind of congregation do you want? That query precedes the probe into the kind of person you want as pastor. For 15 years I trained churches and their pastor search committees. In recent months, I have…