The World is Not Ours To Save, by Tyler Wigg-Stevenson (IVP) A number of years ago, I read an essay where Tyler Wigg-Stevenson said, “The world is not ours to save, but we do serve the mission of the God…
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…
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…