It doesn’t seem like it was just a couple weeks ago Jason Aldean released a music video to expand on the lyrics of his now widely popular and equally controversial hit “Try That in a Small Town.” Nor does it…
‘Try That in A Sundown Town’
A small radio rested in my grandmother’s kitchen — one of those gadgets stained by time and the touch of hands that saw a day’s labor before sunrise. On it played nothing but Country Gold. As pintos simmered on the…
Back to the ATL, hungry for a welcome home
Let’s start with a bit of disclosure. I’m not afraid of flying. Really, I’m not. But as the plane I’m on starts to descend, I realize I’m afraid. Not beacuse we’re rapidly losing altitude. There’s been no abrupt change in…
Tina Turner kept the divine flame burning
At the age of 42, I walked down the streets of New York City for the first time. In my initial observation, I conceded and admitted the hype was real. The city that never sleeps is the measuring stick of…
These are some of the best pastors I know
Upon three different walls, I’ve hung my grandfather’s long gun. It first rested above a purple-painted fireplace in our home in North Carolina. When we moved to Vermont, it found a new residency in the parsonage’s dining room. Now in…
Going out for coffee and finding nourishment instead
“I’ve got to get out of this office.” I don’t know if I say these words aloud or if they’re just in my head, but on cue, I push away from a computer screen I’ve been staring at too much…
‘Grandmas make the best banana bread’
With the morning sun wrapping rays around the two windows in the bedroom, causing a pale light to creep steadily in from their edges, my oldest child rustles the bedsheets. It’s like she can feel the idea of warmth, the…
Bless your heart for producing professionals and satisfied saints when radical prophets are needed
A recent webinar with my alma mater made me realize theological schools and the church face the same challenge today: How to be risk-takers in a world that only values stability. Let me say upfront, I’m not someone you’re likely…
In Aunt Minnie’s kitchen, I learned about fellowship, food and family
Where the Appalachian region of North Carolina crashes against the central Piedmont’s rolling hills, I came of age. Where the exploitation of workers centered less on what took place in coal mines and instead played out inside the walls and…
Halloween reminds me of that time I was called upon to lead a ‘cleansing’ at a family’s home
It starts in late September with the pricking of my skin and spirit; autumn creeps in. Resembling Tom Fury, the lightning rod salesman from Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, bringing with it “a storm like a great beast…
How Don Durham and I became neighbors
In the first chapter of The Glad River, author Will Campbell introduces two main characters, Claudy “Doops” Momber and Kingston Smylie. Flung into the cold military-industrial machine, the men first cross paths during basic training. Be it the impending war,…
What The Bear should teach us about the church and genuine acceptance
It feels like I just left here. This is the first thought stumbling through my mind as I listen to the deadbolt release, allowing me to enter the dark room I vaguely remember departing just a few hours ago. I…