George Mason describes his “Good God” podcast as a way to connect the dots between religion and just about everything else. “It’s educating, inspiring and creating civil discourse. It’s helping people bridge faith and public life,” said Mason, senior pastor…
In this election season, I am partisan to the gospel first and last
It’s always about power, don’t you know? If that hasn’t become obvious to you in the past week, then you suffer from hardening of the categories caused by hyper-partisanship. I was on three calls just Wednesday asking me about how…
On church buildings reopening: Let love be your guide
Mark Twain put it pithily: “It were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse races.” The novel coronavirus is not, however, a horse race. Opinions may differ, but we should not…
Virtual General Assembly evokes memories of CBF’s foundation, formative role
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s pandemic-induced move to online spaces cannot replace the family reunion function that so many love about the annual event.
No surprise among ministers that public doesn’t trust clergy
Ministers took one to the chin this month when Gallup released a poll placing them in the middle of the pack of professions trusted by the public. The polling organization asked Americans who they consider to be the most honest…
Black pastors challenge their white colleagues’ silence
“We need to hear you say clearly in the pulpit and in the streets that white supremacy and racism is wrong,” a black pastor told a group of white colleagues following the police shooting of an unarmed, African-American man. “And no more generalizations. It has to be specific.”
Dallas CBF pastor stands with black clergy protesting police shooting of African-American man
A Cooperative Baptist Fellowship pastor in Dallas criticized white churches for not speaking up alongside blacks demanding justice in the killing of an African-American man in his own apartment by a white police officer. On Sunday George Mason, senior pastor…
Gospel politics in the midst of social turmoil
Jesus came preaching the good news of the kingdom of God that is at hand. That good news threatened political leaders who failed to attend to the common good and it brought blowback from religious leaders who minded the status quo. Preaching the whole gospel will do that in any age.
Working for justice is path to peace in 2017, spiritual leaders say
Scrolling through the list of celebrities who died in 2016 seems to take, depressingly, forever. There also were the personal losses and, for many, a political and cultural landscape that seems upside-down. And those are just the personal and domestic…