When Twin Lakes Church in Aptos, Calif., made the decision to increase local outreach efforts, its leaders didn’t realize how serving their unhoused neighbors would change them along the way. For Robin Spurlock, outreach associate director, serving unhoused individuals in…
Cancel church for ice and snow, not ICE and shootings
Mass shootings will outnumber snowstorms this year. That sentence hurts to write; may it haunt us. The decision to cancel church for inclement weather involves the complex interaction of values — safety vs. commitment; feelings — fear of injury vs….
American Baptist agency issues pastoral letter on mass deportations
American Baptist Home Mission Societies issued a pastoral response to federal deportations July 3, saying the denomination will not back down from ministry. “The Church as Refuge: A Pastoral Response to Mass Deportations” is a brief letter to the congregations…
Faith lessons from two ‘stranded’ astronauts
This week, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to earth after an unexpectedly long mission. The two arrived at the International Space Station in June 2024 aboard a new Boeing spacecraft; they expected to stay at the station…
Fulfill your ministry
Elie Wiesel, who as a teenage prisoner in two Nazi concentration camps watched his family taken away to be killed, wrote out of that experience one of the most important books of the last century, Night. How he began has…
What’s keeping this minister awake at night
I have many reasons for not getting what a somnologist or sleep doctor would describe as a full night’s rest. For one, I have children. This means my ears are attuned to any sound slightly resembling a croup-like cough. In…
Whether Christians should prioritize care for migrants as much as for fellow citizens has been debated for centuries
Vice President JD Vance and several bishops of the U.S. Roman Catholic Church are having a war of words over the Trump administration’s flurry of executive orders and highly publicized immigration raids. The bishops argue that these policies tend to empower gangs and traffickers while…
How ‘flood-the-zone’ politics is changing democracy and ministry
The “flood-the-zone” strategy is not new, but it is wildly effective. How can we understand its effect on churches and ministers? The immediate aim of President Donald Trump’s White House is to keep journalists off balance, news and social media…
California congregations vow to help neighbors even as their buildings are lost to fires
Like many of their neighbors, leaders of the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center watched in horror this week as wildfires destroyed homes, businesses and entire neighborhoods in Southern California, with the destruction playing out on social media and television news.
A sabbatical gift of grace and rest and exploration
I have been in full time ministry for 24 years. Wow. That doesn’t seem possible. Actually, that is almost half my life. Mostly, I am grateful for every second — even the most challenging moments have taught me more about…
Gone fishin’: The SBC and me
Recently I came across an excellent article in Baptist News Global about cooperation (or lack thereof), among Southern Baptists in how we present Jesus Christ as the only hope for the spiritually lost and dying residents of our planet. Derek…
My hybrid church
Let me tell you about my church. My church meets every Friday from noon until around 6:30 p.m. My church has no pews but plenty of folding tables and chairs as well as boxes and bins filled with groceries. My…