Several years ago, a bumper sticker popped up here and there that said, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” We need to print up some more of those for times like these. Love him or hate him, you’ve…
Don’t blame Trump for your bad behavior
Kids don’t show up at school and suddenly say racist things to their classmates because of who won a presidential election; most often they repeat what they’ve heard at home. College students don’t suddenly start yelling racial epithets on a…
How will you use your privilege?
There’s a lot of talk today about those of us who have “privilege.” There’s white privilege, male privilege, education privilege, urban privilege, Christian privilege, economic privilege, neighborhood privilege and on and on. I’m not denying any of these are real;…
What if we ‘promoted’ in adult Sunday school again?
Decades ago, even among churches that retained adult Sunday school, we adults stopped promoting. More accurately, we adults refused to keep promoting. We put down our feet and said we would not move any more. We wanted to stay where we were.
The problem with not talking about politics at church
Here’s the problem with saying we must never talk about politics at church: We immediately cede to politicians the right to define what is political and what is theological. And then the church loses its voice on theology because important…
Three ways family ties hinder us in our faith
The “faith of our fathers” offers a nice American ideal, but it also has become one of the key reasons adults fail to respond to the work of the Holy Spirit in their own lives. Those are likely startling words…
Separating the weapons of truth from truthiness
There’s truth, and then there’s truthiness. At least that’s what we learned from Stephen Colbert in the days of yore when he came to us on TV via “The Colbert Report.” “Truthiness” is that kind of information that sounds like…
Painful lessons from a pastor’s viral transgender post
“Does God still love me?” That is one of the most painful questions I have been asked in the past two weeks after writing a commentary that went viral and made me a most unlikely spokesperson for the transgender community…
Texas faith leaders foster uncomfortable-but-needed transgender conversation
Recent commentary by two conservative North Texas men of faith has emboldened us to believe that generous and compassionate debate can occur around the transgender issue.
Pastor writes to dispel embedded misconceptions about transgender people
As churches seek understanding about the LGBT community, a Dallas pastor wrote a blog post sharing seven things he learned about transgender people. Rachel Martin speaks with Pastor Mark Wingfield.
Amid a fiery debate, this Dallas pastor wants to learn about transgender people
A week ago, Mark Wingfield wrote a viral blog post for Baptist News Global titled “Seven Things I’m Learning About Transgender Persons.” While conservatives have railed against school restroom policies for transgender students, Wingfield took a different tack.
Seven things I’m learning about transgender persons
I don’t know much about transgender issues, but I’m trying to learn. How about you? How much do you really know about this subject beyond all the screaming headlines and concerns about who goes to the bathroom where? The truth…