One night recently, I was speaking by phone with the adult son of a man whose funeral I would officiate a few days later. While getting to know the family and the deceased in preparation for these “pick up” funerals…
‘Both of these Jameses are speaking into 2023 in ways that are important and necessary’
Just as they did during the Civil Rights era, Black authors James Cone and James Baldwin are generating condemnation and inspiration in a nation increasingly divided over perspectives on race and justice, two panelists said during Baptist News Global’s latest…
Why we must go there
“The first part of the book was great, but then why did you have to go there?” I was talking to my brother-in-law’s book club, a group of Lutherans who call themselves the Churchies. (I don’t think they’ve registered that…
Amy Butler hopes to give other pastors courage to tell their stories
Amy Butler’s new book, Beautiful and Terrible Things, is an effort to expose her own struggles as a woman, a mother, a Christian and a high-profile pastor without shining too bright a light on the failings of others, she said….
Next up: BNG webinar with David Gushee this week
BNG readers are invited to a free webinar this Wednesday afternoon with BNG columnist David Gushee. The Mercer University ethicist will talk with BNG Executive Director Mark Wingfield about Gushee’s newest book, Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies. The webinar…
There is no center
Some among us want you to believe they represent the “center” politically or theologically — or both. Which causes me to ask: The center of what? This mythical center is wielded as a means of saying to others: “You’re an…
White Christian nationalism is an ‘unholy alliance’ between fundamentalism and politics, Tisby tells BNG crowd
An event that occurred outside Atlanta more than a century ago presaged the violent, racist God-and-country resurgence of white Christian nationalism that pervades America today, historian and author Jemar Tisby said during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly in Atlanta…
Picking up the pieces of the SBC
An email pen pal wrote me this weekend to point out the irony of the Southern Baptist Convention’s actions last week against women in church leadership: “Do we realize a 20-year-old boy in college can pastor a Baptist church? But…
A primer on leading public prayer
Sunday, April 30, was my last Sunday as minister of music at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas. That day my colleague, George Mason, senior pastor emeritus, offered Prayers of the People, a regular part of our worship liturgy led by…