While living in Louisville, Kentucky (while attending seminary many more years ago than I would like to admit) I was briefly employed as a youth minister for a 150-year-old congregation located downtown. Situated in what had been a very prosperous…
Where is God?
John’s prologue is actually a poem that introduces major themes that will be developed in the unfolding of the story that follows. It is a beautiful poem about the mystery of incarnation. I love the story about two mischievous boys,…
Andraé Crouch, Expensive Pianos, and Church Priorities
Unless I slept walked through it, I never had the chance to see Andraé Crouch perform live. I heard plenty of his music. But I was never in his presence. I have been places where he performed, but only years…
The Myth of Righteous America: Why white people support Darren Wilson
The shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson and the choking death of Eric Garner in Staten Island have dominated the news cycle for weeks, making it almost impossible to get any other issue onto the agenda. Immigration, Ebola and…
Why Rob Bell is a Better Evangelical than Evangelicals
Recovering the “new evangelism”
Fifty years ago, in May 1964, a diverse group of Baptists from across North America gathered in Atlantic City to celebrate the culmination of a five-year evangelism campaign (1959-1964). With the participation of American Baptists, African-American Baptists, Canadian Baptists and…
A call for Christian collaboration
As of Friday, November 8, 2013 various Christian disaster response organizations were rushing to prepare their response to the Typhoon Haiyan hitting the Philippines. In some cases they were moving forward alone feeling they could respond best by using their…
Why we ordain (even for women)
We are going to make history this Sunday at Augusta Heights Church in Greenville, SC. For the first time in the 63-year history of the church, we will celebrate the ordination of a woman, Debbie Roper, to the gospel ministry….
A graceless gospel
The moment started innocently enough. I was walking with my wife through an exhibition hall at the Oklahoma State Fair. We were on a date just enjoying our time together. Then a stranger raised his voice from his rather sad…