By Amy Butler As a loving parent interested in knowing what my children like, my ongoing and increasingly unsuccessful attempts to understand the teen-aged mind led me last week to go with them to see the new movie The Avengers….
‘The Avengers’ a metaphor for the church
By Amy Butler As a loving parent interested in knowing what my children like, my ongoing and increasingly unsuccessful attempts to understand the teen-aged mind led me last week to go with them to see the new movie The Avengers….
Words alone won’t stop Baptist predators
By Christa Brown Penn State has hired former FBI director and federal judge Louis Freeh to investigate gaps in how the university handled allegations of child sex crimes involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky. To assist him in the task,…
Always reforming
By Bill Leonard Ecclesia Semper Reformanda, so the saying goes, “the church is always reforming.” Those words came to mind last week when I heard sociologist-prophet-iconoclast Tony Campolo preach at the New Baptist Covenant II meeting, that multiracial effort at…
How could something so good have been such a bust?
By Jim White How could the New Baptist Covenant II — supported philosophically and theologically by so many Baptists — draw such meager attendance? Some NBC II optimists initially placed the combined attendance potential for the Nov. 17-20 meeting in…
Economy-driven worship?
By Bob Burroughs We are experiencing unprecedented times of financial strain. Everyone, every family, every business, every church is having difficulty meeting budget and/or making ends meet. People are being laid off by the thousands — with no end in…
The tired arms of ministers
By Bill Wilson A friend recently shared a daily devotion that pointed out the story in Exodus 17 regarding Moses’ arms. Remember? As long as Moses held his staff with his arms aloft, the Israelites prevailed in their battle with…
Trust the people
By Mike Smith Few words spark more immediate anxiety in a pastor than, “Preacher, we’ve found a great book, and we’re going to get a group together and teach it.” This came home when two women informed me they were…
The J word
By Bill Wilson I cannot stand this word and what it represents. I hear it far too often. It represents an attitude that should be banned from local church life. It is the word just. As in, “I’m just a…