I drove slowly and nervously down a narrow street on a sunny, humid morning, hoping the Google Maps lady wasn’t leading me astray. There were crumbling, dilapidated row houses as far as the eye could see. “This might be one…
A story of new neighbors: What will Muslim students in the U.S. find?
A large charter bus sat in the parking lot, exhaust brakes hissing. Several rooms in the conference center were full of large suitcases, most of them looking brand new. I knew they couldn’t have belonged to the small group of…
Joining the team: In politics, it’s time to become diehard fans again
In the United States, we love our sports. There’s something both weird and fascinating about it. I’ve never been what you would call a diehard fan (although the 10 years I lived in the Midwest was enough to turn my…
Bridging the gap between the heart and systemic injustice
If you could ask a fish, “How’s the water?”, the fish would probably respond by saying, “What in the world is water?” That was the observation of David Foster Wallace in a commencement speech at Kenyon College used to illustrate…
Going to bat — the only way humans thrive
I can’t think of many times in my life when I have felt as if no one would go to bat for me. In fact, whenever I tell the story of how I came to faith and later discerned a…
What’s driving religious freedom debate in the U.S.? Fear, say some.
It was just about a year ago when Baptist writer and minister Corey Fields wrote a column critiquing a spate of “religious freedom” bills pushed through statehouses around the country. Indiana’s version was one of the more high-profile measures. It…
To such as these
It was the last place I wanted to be that night. It had been a long day, and now I was crammed into a hot and crowded school auditorium for my son’s school music program. I gave him a thumbs…
It’s not about the ‘thank you’
By Corey Fields It’s a story that has stuck with me ever since I heard it. When I was in high school, I had a mentor and Bible study leader who went to Honduras every year with her undergrad students….
Christian stuff the world needs, part 3: Fear not
By Corey Fields We hear a lot about the declining influence of the church. Christians today, however, have a very urgent opportunity to provide what I believe can be the most powerful prophetic witness to some serious moral issues. This…