I recently had the opportunity to spend a week in Wroclaw, Poland. The original intention for my trip was to teach a spiritual renewal retreat for church leaders over a three-day weekend. The retreat was a planned partnership between The…
Assessing the damage Twitter has done to American Christianity
When historians look back to assess the decline of American Christianity in the first half of the 21st century, they will no doubt finger Twitter as a point of no return. If you are among the 77% of Americans who…
The Supreme Court’s politicized decision on abortion will do nothing to help churches thrive
As if the American church isn’t divided enough, it appears we’re about to roll back the clock 50 years on abortion rights and throw more jet fuel on the culture war bonfires consuming our congregations. For some churches and pastors,…
If you love your party more than your state, go do something else, Andy Stanley tells Georgia legislators
The Georgia House of Representatives invited megachurch pastor Andy Stanley to speak to them as chaplain of the day March 15, and the message he dropped on them could have come from an Old Testament prophet. Stanley, who has been…
How I learned to care about social justice growing up Southern Baptist in Oklahoma
“How did you come to have a passion for social justice issues?” That was one of the questions put to me this week when the tables got turned and I was the interviewee instead of the interviewer. The answer immediately…
Crossing the lines we draw: Will our response to this pandemic unite or further divide us?
Amid the widening divisions and deepening polarization in every area of life, we can make choices that are intended to bring people together rather than push them farther away.
Reflecting on CBF life in the midst of hope and ashes
If I read my Bible correctly (and if I read my American history correctly), the only real hope we have for reconciliation isn’t actually through reading our Bible correctly. And it isn’t through winning an argument with someone who disagrees with us. Reconciliation only seems to happen in one way — through carrying crosses.
Courageous conversations are no longer optional. It’s time to cross boundaries.
We’re going to have to do more, to move past talking (even preaching!) and into the messy and painful work of deep conversation held together by real relationship. In fact, it’s increasingly my conviction that this may be the heart of the faith community’s work in this moment: building authentic relationships upon which these difficult conversations can rest.
What will it take to unite a divided U.S.? The answer might surprise you.
In the feature story of March’s Atlantic Monthly, James Fallows asks, “Can America Put Itself Back Together?” Fallows’ surprising good news is that he believes America can.