By Mark Wingfield As a Texan, I am not enamored with Ted Cruz as my senator. However, right now I have a bit of sympathy for him. Last week, he called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a “liar” on the…
Musical Chairs and the leaders of dying organizations
By Mark Wingfield “I don’t want the ship to go down on my watch.” These words have been uttered, or perhaps muttered under the breath, by many a pastor and organizational leader who has found themselves at the helm of…
Don’t forget to count the non-denoms
In all the hand-wringing about the statistical decline of Baptist congregations in America — which follows similar declines before in the mainline Protestant churches — one important shift seldom gets mentioned. That is the rise of the nondenominational church within…
Who will go to Destination Unknown?
“Destination Unknown.” That was the stated course of the troop ship on which Julia Graham and her first husband, Henry, embarked in May 1945, with their 7-month-old son, as Baptist missionaries to the Middle East. Julia and Henry and the…
Racism evident in response to Texas pool party
True confession: I am a 53-year-old white male raised primarily in the South, and I occasionally find myself involuntarily thinking racist thoughts. Not big, dangerous racist thoughts, just the kind of insipient stereotyping that comes as second nature to most…
Can we be moderate and judgmental at the same time?
The first clue should have been when the Internet trolls didn’t immediately show up and condemn me as a liberal heretic. And then when some normally affirming voices fell curiously silent, it became obvious something was amiss. This response—or lack…
Think twice before you leave the traditional church
So you’re thinking about leaving the traditional church where you were raised and heading for the big-box megachurch down the way because your kids like the music? You’re not alone. This is happening all across America, not only in major…
Eyes wide open
After Sunday’s service, a friend emailed me a confession: He kept his eyes open during Prayers of the People, which I led this week. It was a Lenten prayer about finding beauty in dry places, the hand of God in…
Pastoral residencies picking up as churches expand ministry, purpose
By Jeff Brumley It’s hardly news anymore that Baptist and other churches are struggling to rediscover their identity and relevance in a postmodern, post-Christian era. But what is getting church leaders’ attention is the growing number of congregations finding their…
This is what we do
By Mark Wingfield Long before Ebola came to Dallas, our senior pastor became infamous among staff for this pithy response to the challenges of church work: “This is what we do.” Typically, this response is given when someone has asked…
Owning up to our flaws
By Mark Wingfield “The devil made me do it.” Years ago, the comedian Flip Wilson made a name for himself with a ’70s-era shtick in which this was his sassy answer to every misdeed his character committed. For folks of…
Build and tear down
By Mark Wingfield The church building is grand and beautiful, representative of the kind of early 20th-century architecture prevalent among prominent Baptist churches with resources. A recent restoration has brought the shine back to this gem of a worship space,…