The answer to the great question of how to be saved was supposed to be easy. When I was a kid, they said to “invite Jesus into your heart.” It sounded good, but I wasn’t sure what that meant. To…
Where to see Jesus in suffering, even in the war in Ukraine
Tatiana Perebeinis was a 43-year-old accountant working for a California start-up company in Irpin, Ukraine. She became famous this week as her photo appeared on the front page of the New York Times. It wasn’t a flattering photo. Along with…
Whatever happened to Southern Baptists and church autonomy?
Neither one of us had a clue what we were doing 12 years ago, but a friend and I started a church. We didn’t know anything about starting a church, but we knew a great deal about church. Between us,…
My church started speaking another language (and it wasn’t unknown tongues)
Rodolfo has been taking care of my yard for three or four years. He does a great job and is one of the hardest-working guys I know. I see him all over the neighborhood, mowing and trimming grass. He tends…
Jesus and deconstruction
I shared a meme recently on Facebook to a page dedicated to discussion about house churches. It’s a site with lively discussion on issues broader than church and religion, but usually, the Christian faith comes through. I have no idea…
Enslaved by freedom
He stood up to address the House of Burgesses, the legislative body in Virginia, meeting to determine how to respond to British military intervention in the colony. Relationships between the colonists and the British had deteriorated over the past two…
Jesus, not the Bible, is ‘the Word of God’
Like many Christians, I strive to read the Bible every day. However, I admit frequent failures and that I’m not as diligent as in times past. I remember the first time I set out to read the entire book from…
It’s 1984 in Texas
In junior high, we had an English assignment to read George Orwell’s classic, 1984. By that time, the story was probably a dozen years old, and I don’t recall thinking that the year 1984 would soon arrive. I have a…
Should I be insulted for being called a Baptist?
I think I might have been insulted by a good friend recently, but I’m not sure. In a text message between Sharon and my friend Charlie, he described me as “the only Baptist I know.” If you knew Charlie, you…