I have been engaged in the preaching task since I was 20 years old. That means I have been at it for 31 years. Preaching is my lifestyle. There is always a biblical text and a developing sermon in my…
Lilly Endowment launches initiative to strengthen Christian preaching
The Lilly Endowment has made the first 32 grants in a new project to “help Christian pastors strengthen their abilities to proclaim the gospel in more engaging and effective ways.” A news release from the Indianapolis-based endowment explained: “The ultimate…
Where God is: Preaching the hard truths about change
Last fall on the second Sunday of Advent, I preached a sermon at the American Cathedral in Paris on change, our fear of change, the difficulties of change. And on race. It was a pretty typical sermon for Advent, that…
Doomsday Vault created to preserve conservative preaching against cancel culture
In a world where peer-reviewed evolutionists are taken seriously and LGBTQ people are treated as peers, Bob Jones University and Sermon Audio have come up with a conservative evangelical counter-offensive known as The Vault. The two organizations have joined forces to…
Why you should be wary of preachers who are certain about everything
The minister of my Southern Baptist childhood church was a study in contradictions. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of my alma mater, Wake Forest University, he was an evangelical conservative; however, before my meeting with the ordination council of the…
The myth of the Good Shepherd
“The Good Shepherd” is a mosaic dating back to 425 AD that sits over the entrance to the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy. I have often wondered what Christianity would look like if the parables of Jesus found…
The truth won’t make you comfortable, Cosby says in tribute to Claypool
Americans cannot simply continue to enjoy the Civil Rights achievements of the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Fannie Lou Hamer and John Lewis without taking up the cause of racial justice themselves, Simmons College of…
September symposium will celebrate life and legacy of John Claypool
If you’ve ever heard a sermon preached by a moderate Baptist pastor, you’ve likely heard the influence of John Claypool, whether you knew it or not. Claypool served four well-known Baptist churches as pastor in the second half of the…
Distinguished preaching professor says he was fired from Southwestern Seminary; administrators say he quit
A Southwestern Seminary professor who shared a platform with disgraced former seminary President Paige Patterson this spring either has been fired or has resigned, depending on who’s telling the story. David Allen, who served 18 years as distinguished professor of…