On a recent Saturday, a classic car show was held just down the road. There are several routes to the event, and since one passes right by my house, I spent the afternoon watching the vintage fleet parade to and…
Where is the outrage?
In our current era, many people are outraged by the wrong things while remaining indifferent to the genuine injustices happening around them. Outrage is a waste of time if it is not followed by action. Writing letters, making phone calls…
Protecting the gift: A call to parental vigilance
I am writing this article specifically for parents raising children in today’s world. As a new church plant, our congregation has been blessed with many children, and our recent parenting class has shown just how much this topic matters to…
Dan Patrick is wrong again
Yesterday morning, coffee in hand, I was met with a sobering claim. Our Texas lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, broke the news: “Separation of church and state is a lie.” Despite my “limitations” — a public-school education, a private college degree…
‘Why would anyone want to trade religious liberty for oppression?’
The Baptist approach to the Christian faith was forged in the furnace of persecution and ostracism. The foolish might try to trace Baptist roots back to the first church in Jerusalem, but that is mere mythmaking. However, there certainly are…
Reflections on courage: From Peleliu to the present
Growing up in West Texas in the home of a silent Marine, I have spent a lifetime wondering about the nature of courage. My ruminations eventually led me to speak out on behalf of my sons in middle school, forcing…
It’s time to do our duty
The unnecessary murder of 37-year-old nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretti is the tragic “same song, second verse.” What is that song? Unnecessary violence at the hands of untrained immigration enforcement officers who have no business with guns. In fact, ICE has…
The uninvited guest
Grief is most unwelcome when it arrives unannounced. Neither our lack of invitation nor our lack of preparation discourages it. It is the unforeseen guest at the family gathering, barging in unbidden and heralded by tears. Yet, grief serves a…
Fundamentalism takes another stab at the BGCT
Earlier this week, the Baptist General Convention of Texas met in Abilene, Texas. This once-robust convention used to fill convention centers in Dallas, Fort Worth or Waco. This time, they gathered at the Abilene Convention Center with 2,007 attendees, made…
The only thing we have to fear …
The problem with fear is it can be a situationally appropriate emotion that triggers hyper alertness or an emotion irrationally stoked for malevolent ends. This is where we are today as a nation and as a society. And more than…
The American church is comfortable and lazy
One reason there is such a dissonance between the church and the culture in the United States is because the church has gotten lazy. In the early days of my time in Abilene, Texas, at Crescent Heights Baptist Church, Hardin-Simmons…
Church-state separation and separating fact from fantasy
My granddaughter Zoey loves and reads fantasy. She loves tales of dragons, wizards and elves. Me, not so much. However, I am visiting my granddaughters and the adults who spawned them. Every grandparent understands that order. My visit coincides with…