Beneath the intensity of the fluorescent lights, the pediatric intensive care unit felt even more garish at 3 a.m. as I stood in the hallway with a patient’s dad who was tearful and afraid. His daughter’s nurse had called me…
Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams, now teaching at Purdue, still thinks about the pandemic every day
Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams found himself at the center of American history in dealing with a once-in-a-century pandemic. Now he wants Americans to understand that while things are improving, the pandemic is still with us. “I do think…
Five misconceptions and four truths about Canada’s ‘Freedom Convoy’
As a Canadian, the only thing more disconcerting than watching American politics is watching Americans watching Canadian politics. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, once said that America and Canada were like an elephant and a beaver sharing…
Zoom, zoom, zoom … Some pastors aren’t revved up for continued online church
It took a couple of years, but Elizabeth Mangham Lott finally hit her bottom with doing online church by the end of January. “Y’all, this Zoom church stuff is crushing me today. I don’t wanna do it. And I don’t…
It’s not just pastors modern Republicans don’t trust; they also question doctors and politicians who won’t endorse Trump’s lies
Pastors who find some congregants no longer trusting them as much as before are not alone. Two new national polls show significant drops in the percentage of Republicans who trust the medical advice their doctors give or who trust their…
Is it time for another Gettysburg Address?
Our nation lives in suspended grief over 900,000 dead from COVID. Every day we go to the funeral home, the graveyard. Every day the bells toll for those who keep dying from COVID. Where are words of comfort? Is there…
A cautious case against livestreaming worship
I want to share with you a handful of reasons I am not on the worship livestream bandwagon. Many congregations now livestream, or record and post later, their entire worship services from beginning to end. Our church is out-of-step with…
Leaving church, part 3: ‘Opposition to leadership’
In the face of opposition to leadership, successful leaders never give up or walk away. At least, that is what leadership experts tell us. Instead, these experts suggest persistence and dogged determination as appropriate responses to opposition. This viewpoint is…
Alliance of Baptists shifts again to online gathering
The Alliance of Baptists announced Jan. 31 that it has scuttled plans for an in-person annual meeting in Fort Worth, Texas, in April due to continued concerns about the pandemic. “The Alliance is committed to making every space as equitable…
A response to Tish Harrison Warren about livestreaming worship
“I think it’s time to drop the virtual option,” says Tish Harrison Warren in an op-ed for the New York Times, arguing that churches should stop livestreaming their services. She explains: “Bodies, with all the risk, danger, limits, mortality and vulnerability…
In Oklahoma, a mother watches a miracle unfold as her son finally wins the battle against COVID
Amid the millions of stories of devasting loss from COVID-19, occasionally there’s an unexplained miracle. This is one such story. Chase Martin is a 34-year-old former college linebacker who lives in Moore, Okla., a southern suburb of Oklahoma City. In…
American kids’ mental health is in crisis; the solution isn’t just therapy, it’s revolution
In early December, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a nationwide Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health in light of what he termed “the pandemic’s unprecedented impacts on the mental health of America’s youth and families, as well as the mental…