Recently, in the parking lot outside my office, I cried in my car for 10 minutes before work. This was after listening to my local NPR affiliate interview a parent from my son’s school. In her remarks, this parent calmly…
‘The meanness of this moment’ in America (and its churches)
Recently, a friend asked, “Has American culture gone completely mad?” Today, I’d add to that troubling question this troubled response: “It’s not just that American culture has gone mad, it’s also gone mean. Meanness, to quote a Bette Midler song,…
Negative emotions increased worldwide in 2020, and not just because of COVID
New research shows that 2020 gave much of the world’s population a whole lot more to frown about, and not only because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 Gallup “Global Emotions” survey, which tracks negative and positive experiences, reports that…
LA County and state of California pay settlement to pastor and church who denied reality of the pandemic
John MacArthur’s defiance of California’s public health restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19 has netted the church $800,000 — not because MacArthur told the truth about the pandemic but because the U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled that California couldn’t…
Pandemic has accelerated needed changes in churches, panelists report
The COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges to churches, but it also helped them sift through outdated programming and policies to reinvent ministry going forward, according to panelists of “Expanding Engagement in the Local Church,” an Aug. 25 workshop of the Cooperative…
Of sheep and goats, vaccines and conspiracies, biblical literacy and illiteracy
I’m not exactly sure when or how it happened, but calling someone a sheep is now meant to be an insult. In this new vernacular, being called a “sheep” or “sheeple” means you’re foolish and easily led astray. It means…
On COVID and praying for the sick
Our family got our first television set when I was 6 or 7 years old. I clearly remember the first afternoon coming home from school; we watched cartoons. Childhood memories stick with us because they touched something unique or special…
COVID has dramatically changed the experience of global missionaries
American missionaries serving in far-away places continue to endure significant challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including limits on travel and in-person ministry, a scarcity of international volunteers and in some cases feelings of guilt for being vaccinated in communities…
We are living through a pandemic of disembodiment
Half my seminary education was on Zoom. I completed the final year and a half of a three-year master of divinity degree from the desk in my bedroom. Like everyone else, the pandemic moved my life online. It’s a strange…