For the most part, I only think about “customer service” when I am the customer and on the receiving end of what I consider poor service. I will not elaborate here. Each of us has a collection of frustrating stories…
Prison songs
By Bill Leonard In God’s Long Summer, Charles Marsh describes the summer of 1963 when Fannie Lou Hamer and other representatives of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were arrested in Winona, Miss., for attempting to be served at a “whites…
Life outside the fence
We humans don’t like living outside our comfort zone. We like familiar surroundings, familiar faces, and predictable routines. I’m just the same though to most folks it might look like my husband and I are already living outside of our…
Does facebook reveal my compassion or my passion?
A few weeks ago, a friend challenged me about my posts on my personal facebook timeline. It seemed to this person that a lot of what I post I do so because I feel I have to. I do post…
Locating the church
By Molly T. Marshall Identifying the true markers that locate the church has been an ongoing debate since the early centuries of Christianity. Unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity were the classic marks distinguishing the new expression of the people of…
If I am not growing spiritually, should I sue my pastor for malpractice?
Ouch! The question itself raises a variety of emotions; and not all good ones. I posted this question on Facebook to see what responses I would receive. The origin of this question was somewhat different than how it was posed….
Author: Church should listen to LGBT voices
By Bob Allen A new book by a gay Baptist minister says it is time for churches to stop asking questions about whether homosexuality is right or wrong and begin listening to the voices of gays and lesbians who are…
Presumed guilty
Not long ago, my wife Helms and I were having one of those mornings where nothing is going quite right. We were late for everything, we weren’t getting things done, and to top it off, we had forgotten to grab…
The Oracle of Delphi
Ten years ago, my wife Sally won a trip to Greece. I tagged along. Pure vacation. Great Greek food. In the land of Zeus and Athena, God kept popping up. We visited the Isle of Patmos and saw the grotto…