Just weeks after his former board chairman tried to fire him, Brent Leatherwood kept his job as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission yesterday. ERLC trustees, who are elected by messengers to SBC annual meetings,…
‘My teachers shot’
“My teachers shot.” That’s what a 10th grader texted her mom on Wednesday, Sept. 4, from a locked-down school room at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga. There was “blood everywhere,” she later recounted. And another teacher “put pressure on…
We should follow the words of Jesus, ‘No more of this!’
For as long as I can remember, I have loved watching rivers, with their beautiful shapes, surfaces and movements. If you’ve ever watched a river, I’m sure you’ve noticed its current is a powerful thing. It shapes the river’s boundaries…
Apalachee High School: The questions that haunt me at night
I am writing this post very early in the morning of Friday, Sept. 6. It is less than 48 hours after 14-year-old Colt Gray decided to start his freshman year at Apalachee High School, 40 minutes north of me, by…
How the church of the Nashville shooting winds through history, gender wars, church discipline and the SBC sexual abuse study
Nashville is a city infused by religion, music and history, so when a tragedy like the school shooting at The Covenant School March 25 happens there, connections ripple across well-known names and places. And in this case, also across some…
Baptist church jumps into service as reunion point for Covenant School children and parents
Senior Pastor Nathan Parker said he immediately recommended the sanctuary when police requested space at Woodmont Baptist Church for reunions between parents and survivors of the mass shooting at nearby Covenant School in Nashville. “A sanctuary is a holy place,…
School shootings: How can we respond to children, parents, teachers and others affected?
With the recent incidents of school shootings around the country, we may be asking how we can respond. These breaks in our sense of security bring up many feelings, questions and worries. They can make us feel sick as we think…
Mass murder and the soundtrack of our lives
Some days my outlook is determined by my outfit. If that sounds shallow to you, you’ve never worn a pair of cut-off leopard print shorts. If you have, you know the possible trajectory of where one’s day can go from…