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…
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Governance study committee is ‘spot on’
I write to commend the committee appointed by Baptist General Association of Virginia president, Carl Johnson, and chaired by Jim Baucom for the enlightened white paper they produced identifying deficiencies in the BGAV governing apparatus. Specifically, the five areas addressed…
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: It’s not your mother’s WMU
Recently I was invited to the 2013 Shine Conference for Acteens, sponsored by Woman’s Missionary Union of Virginia. I was asked to share my experience of having malaria. I was also asked to sit in on a session that was…
OPINION: Divesting doctrine
A recent Religious Herald included a review of Brian McLaren’s new book, Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? I first encountered McLaren in college through his book, A New Kind of Christian. Here, through the…
TRENDING: SEKAP
Here’s a no-brainer trend: blogs, Twitter and Facebook pronouncements by public religious leaders going viral with all kinds of unintended negative consequences. Besides making me shake my bald head, it raises the question of what the “best practices” trend will be…
OPINION: A new commandment
Jesus makes his way around the entire room. He looks at each of us with the eyes of redemption and humbly bathes our feet. Some of us attempt to protest but none walk away without having been cleansed. I can’t…
VITAL SIGNS: How to ruin a sermon
Healthy churches are marked by engaging worship. Engaging worship is nearly always marked by excellent preaching. Good preaching comes in a myriad of forms in a multitude of settings. Don’t let anyone fool you: there is no one way to preach…
OPINION: At home in the 17th century
Seventeenth century Baptists would have known exactly what was happening when two Rowan County, N.C., state legislators recently proposed a resolution, affirmed by 11 other legislative colleagues, that declared that the United States Constitution does not “prohibit states or their…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Does your church need an administrator?
I sometimes recall with nostalgia that courageous country church that called me as its college-student pastor. This group of deeply committed Christians allowed me to gain valuable experience and also served to mentor me since many of them knew more…
TRENDING: ‘Virginia Baptist’ to ‘General Association’
Ten years ago, American prophet and all-time dean of church consultants Lyle Schaller wrote one of my favorite of his 96 books. From Geography to Affinity: How Congregations Can Learn From One Another was a prescient look at the fundamental…
OPINION: On questioning God
I’ve often heard folks — good, churchgoing folk s— say something like, “I know we’re not supposed to question God, but ….” And then they unload a perplexing theological question or a life situation for which they have been unable…
OPINION: Returning to Schleitheim
In February 1527, an Anabaptist group known as the Swiss Brethren gathered together at Schleitheim, Switzerland, to help solidify and establish this small movement on the brink of disintegration. The movement had begun less than two years earlier one night…