This photo from 1964 tells you a lot about me. I had just turned 4 years old. You see how my mother has me dressed. We’re visiting my dad’s sister. My boy cousins had gotten football helmets for Christmas, and…
Four states update their constitutions to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude
While the prospect of becoming enslaved may seem like an irrelevant question today — slavery was abolished in the United States 157 years ago with the ratification of the 13th Amendment — last week citizens in five states voted on…
Making peace with my ancestral research
My husband and I have enjoyed delving into our ancestries. At one point in the past, we visited upstate New York, where we looked at gravestones, nearly erased with acid rainfall, and at documents in the historical archives in county…
Baptists, of all people, should work for voter participation
Donald Trump has spent the past several months attacking vote-by-mail, going so far as to encourage North Carolina voters to vote twice (by mail and at the polls — which is illegal). Nonetheless, white evangelical support for Trump remains high,…
Oregon is burning while most white Christians deny climate science
The smoke permeates everything. Even with every door and window closed tight. The whole house smells like smoke. This week, Oregon has erupted in wildfires. Nearly a million acres are burning, and unusual winds from the east have blown the…
These pastors see rural America — and its churches — as a growing mission field
Relatively few ministerial candidates want to lead small country congregations. It’s understandable. Those settings require pastors to provide all the functions usually divvied up by larger church staffs: pastoral care, preaching, teaching youth and children, paying the bills and preparing budgets. But there are unexpected rewards in rural churches, say some pastors.