Today, I just sit. Taking a pregnant pause from the constant demands of life on this early October afternoon, I find myself sitting on a simple wooden bench in the woods outside an abbey in southern Missouri. I am taking…
Learning to tell time as a minister
Remember the 1960s song from the group Chicago, “Does Anyone Know What Time It Is?” This is an excellent question for a new year, especially as one does ministry. I retired as senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Abilene,…
Get on your sweaters: ‘Christian Girl Autumn’ is here
As Thanksgiving comes closer, Christian women everywhere are going into their closets and pulling out their jeans, sweaters, infinity scarves and flannels. That’s right folks — Christian Girl Autumn is here. The running online joke, that all Christian women dress…
Six ways to survive the fall of evangelicalism and the rise of emergence
Fall is my favorite time of year, and this year I find in it a metaphor for the current identity crisis within the evangelical church. Just as the leaves fall from the trees, so it seems that evangelicalism is falling…