By Seth Vopat War rages with all its fogginess and once again we find ourselves in the United States questioning how we should respond. Will airstrikes alone be enough, or will we need ground forces? Ebola spreads throughout parts of…
‘We admitted we were powerless’
By Marion Aldridge You don’t have to get on an airplane or traverse an ocean to make discoveries. About 25 years ago, I began visiting church basements and other community rooms where, once or twice each week, men and women…
You can do something about declining Christian influence
By Marv Knox More and more U.S. Christians — particularly evangelicals — think they’re losing influence and feel embattled. They also say they want politicians to help rectify the situation. But maybe they should try to win their culture wars…
The commandment (most) Baptists break
By Doyle Sager The brilliant composer and musician Mozart once said, “I can tell a good musician by the way he plays the rests.” What an amazing insight. Mozart knew that the rests are what give the composition structure. The…
RG3, false persecution and Christianity
By Alan Rudnick There’s a big uproar over Robert Griffin III reversing his shirt inside out at a press conference. RG3′s shirt read, “Know Jesus Know Peace” or “No Jesus No Peace.” (Cool play on words there.) Over at Fox…
HIPPA and church prayer requests
By Mike Greer Sometimes church members mistakenly claim that HIPAA (the American Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) applies to church communications about the medical status of those listed or mentioned in church prayer meetings. HIPPA applies only to…
Finding God in the in-between times
By Rob Lee I visited my dream seminary yesterday. I’ll spare you the specifics of where I want to go, but I have had my application in since Sept. 4, 2014, at 3:30pm, and I won’t find out until sometime…
Forever asking, what’s the next right thing?
Quite often, over the course of numerous conversations unfolding inside the circled wagons of wounded American evangelicalism, there develops this almost liturgically repetitious refrain among the faithful: Our best years are behind us. Whether it’s wistfully recounting the size of…
Stop making sense
By Michael Ruffin When I was a child, little made sense to me. I did not understand the purpose of life. I did not understand the meaning of my life. I did not understand the power and fragility of intimacy….