We’re remembering the Freedom Summer of 1964 this year, fifty years later. During those momentous times in US history, a broad group of organizations worked together to break the tyranny of the Jim Crow laws in Mississippi. Their primary goal…
I don’t think you know what that means
A popular misconception about professional Christianity is that most of us with business cards reading “pastor” love talking about church. I can’t tell you how many breathless conversations I’ve had with people about the font size of a worship guide,…
Can I give you a ride?
I like giving people rides. As I live and work in the same neighborhood with a high concentration of poverty, I find the opportunity arises quite often. It’s a simple act of kindness that gives me joy while meeting an…
Age segregation in worship
In the last 30 years, age-segmented worship was an unforeseen effect of the contemporary worship movement within Christianity. What has developed in many (not all) churches are two worship services. A traditional service with older adults and a commentary service…
The problem of violence
I remember when the Columbine High School shootings happened in 1999. Schools across the country went into lockdown. Most of us were left mouths open watching news reports, trying to process and understand what happened and why. Schools and other…
A word for the graduates, part 2
As graduates around the country begin making plans for the next phase of their lives, it will be worthwhile for them to take some time to prepare for the challenges that will come with it. For Christian young people in…
Prayer and resistance
Just after seeing Jesus transfigured, the disciples run into a little trouble. A man with a boy possessed by a demon approaches them to cast out the demon. The disciples try, gathering a big crowd along the way, but they…
Experience on Broadway enriches Baptist couple’s calling to special needs advocacy
By Jeff Brumley For most performers, making it to Broadway would be considered the apex of a career, the end-all, be-all of performing on stage. But for Amy and Ben Wright, who are deacons at First Baptist Church in Wilmington, N.C.,…
Hearing God’s voice through the clamor
I hate to admit it. My hearing is not what it used to be. Voices in the room sound a bit more muffled. Reading lips is an emerging skill. Some days I truly believe my kids are speaking more softly…