What do you do when it seems like the bottom has fallen out? How do we move forward in the wake of tragedy both nationally and personally? The only way is to root ourselves deeply in the truth. As I…
VITAL SIGNS: The oxbow lake church
A friend was recently talking about an organization that is struggling to adapt to some very necessary changes. While not a church, the observation she made about their inability to adjust to a changing world rings true for many of…
OPINION: Hard questions and character, part 1
What do you do when the bottom falls out? That question has been pressing itself harder and harder into our consciences this year. Take a brief walk through the last month and change. A terror attack at the Boston Marathon…
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OPINION: Who are you?
One of the great struggles of life is finding your identity. Discerning who you are and what you are about are key parts of our human development and our maturation. Two films playing currently deal with the issue of identity…
OPINION: Stretch
A few weeks ago church leaders from across the country got together in Alexandria, Va., for the Missio Alliance conference. They met to proclaim a shared sense of call to re-imagine church, how we tell the gospel story, mission and…
OPINION: Social media for the responsible Christian
We are living in anxious times. As we plunge deeper into a postmodern existence, our anxiety can be felt in declining church attendance, the loss of confidence in government and civic organizations, and the overarching realization that the metanarratives which…
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Can we work together despite differences?
The decision this past March of the Richmond Baptist Association to continue in Christian fellowship and partnership with Ginter Park Baptist Church was a crowning moment for me in the life of Baptist churches. We agreed to disagree, but to…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Good stewardship means being wise in your giving
Years ago I served as the treasurer of the ministerial alliance in our town. I soon learned that some people had become highly skilled in separating well-meaning Christians and even churches from their money! Good stewardship takes seriously Jesus’ admonition…
OPINION: Consequences of ideas
As the jury drew near to the end of its deliberations I tried to keep current with the trial of Kermit Gosnell, the man who ran the now-infamous Philadelphia abortion clinic, and who was charged with the death of five…
VITAL SIGNS: Success or significance?
The novelist Walker Percy often said that the trouble with most people is that they are not up to anything significant. Bob Buford once wrote a book titled Halftime: Moving From Success to Significance in which he suggests that many…
TRENDING: Spiritual formation
Dallas Willard died on May 8. Or I should say, quoting Pascal, what he once believed, he now sees. Perhaps no other figure in the past 50 years has caused so many North American evangelicals to think so deeply about…