By Elizabeth Evans Hagan Early in August, I traveled with a Feed the Children delegation to Kenya to visit school feeding programs and a Nairobi orphanage, as I now do about twice a year. Part of my morning routine while there…
Shallow congregations only take off their shoes and socks
By George Bullard Since they only plan to wade into the shallow end of the pool or a few feet into the river, lake or ocean, the typical congregational participant only needs to remove shoes and socks. And we are…
Blowin’ in the wind
By Colleen Swingle-Titus Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. He knows us far better than we know ourselves. … We can be so sure that every detail in our…
Crisis or opportunity in a world where the Mayberrys have disappeared
By Arville Earl In 1883, Emma Lazarus penned the words to the poem, The New Colossus, to be used in commemoration of and as a fundraising initiative for the pedestal on which would stand the Statue of Liberty. Some of…
Say goodbye to post-racial America, if it ever existed
By Seth Vopat The night Ferguson, Mo., erupted in protest over the shooting of Michael Brown, I was roughly 240 miles away attending the largest TEDx event in the world in downtown Kansas City. Any thought of the United States…
Life outside the womb
By Michael Ruffin I have been thinking a lot lately about the beginning of life, the end of life and the life that is lived in between the beginning and the end. Before we are born we spend several months…
We need a change of heart on the border crisis
By Russ Dean Jesus said, “Let the little children come unto me.” But Robert Pittenger, a North Carolina congressman, said if they arrive at our border without proper documentation, let the little children be deported ASAP, even though crushing poverty and…
On first take, the latest U2 album still offers grace
By Steven Harmon I’d told myself I wouldn’t do it this time. Writing a theological review of the latest U2 album has been de rigueur for me since offering my two cents on How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. With increasingly…
Send a message — don’t watch the NFL
By Michael Parnell The Janay and Ray Rice video shows what happened that night in February. It is clear that Mr. Rice punched his then fiancée so hard it knocked her out. The first video showed the aftermath of what…