By Jeff Brumley Becky and Joshua Speight were walking the walk last year when they preached on the need to “Keep Church Weird.” “Our congregation had never seen a dual sermon before, and we had never written one together,” Becky…
Robert Griffin III, the Redskins and dying churches
It was awful. It was embarrassing. I couldn’t watch it anymore. My team, the Washington Redskins had started a good fight against the Seattle Seahawks on a recent Sunday night football. The Redskins came out strong and scored 14 points…
Exploring ‘God Behaving Badly’
By Jeff Brumley Kevin Glenn is already hearing the grumbling about his nine-week sermon series on “God Behaving Badly,” and it hasn’t even begun yet. “I have people complaining about the title,” said Glenn, pastor of Memorial Baptist Church in…
Baptism: How young is too young?
By Jeff Brumley Something just clicked for Charity Roberson when she knew it was time for her to be baptized. Roberson, now the pastor at Sharon Baptist Church in Smithfield, N.C., was 9 at the time. Some of the memories…
Baptists open eyes to Epiphany
By Jeff Brumley For Christians who observed Epiphany on Sunday, Jan. 6, the holiday signified a formal end to the Christmas season and the world’s recognition of Jesus’ divinity. While it meant all of that to Baptist minister Don Flowers, for…
Casting visions from the pulpit
By Jeff Brumley Some pastors may look forward to — and even need — a post-holiday lull. But not Doug Dortch, the senior minister at Mountain Brook Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. Instead, he’ll be busy those first few days…
Lessons From Stone Mountain
It all started with my teeth. A couple of years ago I was reclining in the chair of my dentist, Dr. Uetsuki, waiting for the nitrous oxide to kick in. “Are you doing anything special for New Year’s?” he asked…
Where is God?
I am not weighing in on the gun debate. No matter which side of the debate you agree with, I do not personally know ANYONE that resonates with and in anyway condones what took place in New York and Connecticut….
Making spiritual resolutions
By Jeff Brumley New Year’s resolutions usually involve vows of eating better, exercising more and maybe delving into the self-help section at the book store. But for others it also means renewing or reinventing efforts to get right with, or…
Baptist church reports image of Christ
By Jeff Brumley Reports of bleeding religious statues and spiritual images on water towers are usually associated with Catholic and Pentecostal churches. But now you can add some South Carolina Baptists to the mix. Care Baptist Church in Spartanburg recently alerted…
The illnesses of American Christianity
In his important new magnum opus, A Thicker Jesus, my friend Glen Stassen suggests that Christianity is ill in America, but in two very different ways. One form of Christianity is ill, according to Stassen, because it is essentially theologically and…
Humility: A key to postmodern faith?
I never expected to land on humility as an emphasis of study in postgraduate work, but it makes sense. Ever since God called me to vocational ministry, I’ve been interested in the intersection of faith, academics and postmodern culture. Reflecting…