By Seth Vopat “My dog,” one replied. Another said, “Beauty and the Beast.” Agreeing with the first response, another responded, “My dog.” “I think the couple in the movie The Fault in Our Stars,” someone else said. The question: Does…
I can’t just leave
By Helms Jarrell Have you read The Help? I am Mae Mobley. Miss Eva hugged me close as I read to her from my kitty cat book, words she could not read herself. Miss Carolyn cleaned the scrape on my…
More Wednesdays, fewer Thursdays
By Bill Wilson How quickly our conversations can go from theoretical to all-too-real. Last Wednesday, I spent a rewarding day in Tennessee on a retreat with 45 ministers and staff members thinking through the unique and profound pressures of ministry…
If fear wins the day
Michael Helms Helen Cooper is a writer for the New York Times. Her coverage of the Ebola crisis is unique because she was born in Liberia and she still has family living there. Having immigrated to the United States, she…
This is what we do
By Mark Wingfield Long before Ebola came to Dallas, our senior pastor became infamous among staff for this pithy response to the challenges of church work: “This is what we do.” Typically, this response is given when someone has asked…
Everyone needs to go to Arabia
By Bill Wilson One of the pressing concerns of 21st-century individual and congregational spiritual life is the question of depth. To be blunt, there isn’t much. Study after study has revealed the sad truth that much of what we call…
Keep love flowing, even when it seems ineffective
By Joseph Phelps It felt as if I’d taken the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Minutes before Sunday’s service began a worshiper reported to me that the young man sitting next to him the previous Sunday became the self-confessed murderer of…
A strange invitation to uncommon discipleship
The author, who leads an intentional Christian community in Charlotte, N.C., attended the recent annual national conference of the Christian Community Development Association, a network of Christians committed to wholistic restoration for communities spiritually, emotionally, physically, economically and socially. This is…
Ebola ignorance
By Mark Wingfield Someone asked me why I included this phrase in my prayer at Wilshire Baptist Church’s worship service Sunday: “We pray that you would calm the anxious hearts of so many in our city. Help the ignorant to…
Remaining awake through a Pentecost
The author, who leads an intentional Christian community in Charlotte, N.C., attended the recent annual national conference of the Christian Community Development Association, a network of Christians committed to wholistic restoration for communities spiritually, emotionally, physically, economically and socially. This is…
The day I agreed with Satan
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…
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…