Amid all the headlines about the Southern Baptist Convention’s stance against women in ministry last week, other actions that would have made headlines in a normal year fell from view. Two such actions came in the form of resolutions among…
Resolving to ‘respect the diversity’ of the global Baptist family
Last week, Baptist News Global reported the removal from the Baptist World Alliance Commission on Interfaith Relations and another BWA commission of a gay man whose sexual orientation and same-sex marriage were known at the time of his appointment. Much…
Thoughts on crossing the threshold to a new year
When I was a boy, it happened every New Year’s morning. My father would wake me up early and we would get in his truck and set out to meet most of his seven brothers for coffee and conversation at…
Texas Baptists ‘affirm’ women while making gender an article of faith
The Baptist General Convention of Texas has “affirmed” women as contributors to God’s work while also adopting a new faith statement that — mixed in with core historic Baptist beliefs — says “gender is a gift from God who creates…
SBC steers a decidedly conservative course but rejects the most far-right agenda while putting Executive Committee and Ronnie Floyd on notice
While affirming bread-and-butter conservative issues on the first day of its annual meeting June 15, the Southern Baptist Convention turned back attempts at harder-line positions desired by the most conservative bloc of the body. That included a narrow rejection of…
2019 was not a good year for the church: 10 resolutions for doing better in 2020
It’s high time for the church to drop all its stones and stop acting like its role is to be judge, jury, and executioner for those who believe and live in different ways.
To my ‘future self’: instead of resolutions, recycle mistakes and regrets into something redemptive
I took up the New Year’s challenge of writing a letter to my future self. In the process, I discovered the importance of recycling today’s mistakes and regrets into tomorrow’s opportunities.
A letter to my ‘future self’: Go deep. Dare to fail. Discover new truth below.
A letter to my ‘future self’ has 3 suggestions: Do less and be more. Slow down. Go deep.
3 words for the church in 2019: ‘we were wrong’
If the church of Jesus Christ is to be relevant in our mission, if we are to be agents of God’s reconciling love, we’ve got to take a hard look in the mirror. And in God’s grace to muster the courage to say we were wrong.