Six years after a deadly coal mine disaster, where are we now?
Going to bat — the only way humans thrive
I can’t think of many times in my life when I have felt as if no one would go to bat for me. In fact, whenever I tell the story of how I came to faith and later discerned a…
When religious groups do what the government won’t
Are faith-based programs for the poor a problem when there’s no secular alternative?
What Dave Ramsey gets wrong about poverty
Dave Ramsey is rich. And he makes his living telling other evangelical Christians how they can get rich, too.
Embracing the hopelessness of Holy Saturday
Why are we in such a rush to get to Easter Sunday? In our efforts to make Easter celebrations the most extravagant Sunday of the year, when church attendance is expected to be beyond the norm, we forget — if not…
Survival mode
Survival mode generally does not bring out the best in people. When nearly all of the luxuries of life have been stripped away and all you have left is the choice to survive, those choices are brutal. I’m not a…
Liberation theologian prompts Baptist minister’s ‘Franciscan conversion’ to serve the poor
Jeremy Everett was a young Baptist seminary graduate grappling with exactly how to answer his calling — to serve the poor — when he found the answer in a kitchen in Waco, Texas, at a birthday party for a Dominican…
Reimagining churches as full-time partners with those in poverty
By Laura Rector I was temporarily homeless this summer after I lost my below market-rate housing in California to a planned development. This transition meant spending about 40 days without a true residence and sleeping in hotels or friends and…
Leave no one behind
As anticipated the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals last week. These 17 goals will help set a global agenda for the next 15 years (also called around the U.N. “Agenda 2030”). The SDGs are…
Pope Francis inspired ministers who work with marginalized
By Jeff Brumley Pope Francis’ historic visit to the United States energized immigration activists in a speech to Congress and gave hope to prison inmates in Philadelphia. But even before arriving on U.S. soil on Sept. 22, the pontiff also…
Serving the poor and homeless — and a passion for barbecue
By Jeff Brumley Texan Blake Barrow has two main callings in life. One is to serve the hungry and homeless. The other is to serve barbeque. And now the three-time Baylor University graduate has cooked up a plan to combine…
Videos say what presidential candidates would do to help the poor
By Bob Allen Former U.S. Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined an agenda to “raise incomes and get our economy working for everyone” in a video message released Aug. 5 by a group of Christian leaders…