Recently my family was honored to participate in my son’s ordination to the Gospel ministry. After heeding a call from God, enduring seven years of higher education and gaining quality experiences, his church in Topeka, Kansas felt it was time…
Faithful seek truce in culture war
By Jeff Brumley If Facebook is any measure, Americans are emerging from the 2012 election season convinced the nation’s political and religious divisions are wider and more hostile than ever – and getting worse. But not Duke McCall, 98, the…
Talking politics in church
When 4-year-old Abigail Evans burst into tears for no apparent reason, her mother asked what was making her so sad. “I’m tired of Bronco Bama and Mitt Romney,” Abigail wailed between sniffles. Mamma Evans didn’t switch off NPR, but she assured her daughter that…
Looking forward to November 7
Election Day is a day away and living in a battleground state feels like being the lone bachelor on a reality show in which contestants fight over you. I have received more phone calls, mailings, and emails begging for my…
Communion alternative for election strife
By Jeff Brumley Kevin Glenn has become quite the buzz in Columbia, Mo., the past couple of weeks for publicly promoting what he says has become a radical concept in American Christianity: That devotion belongs first to God and to…
Thoughts on election year conduct
This summer while visiting various sites in the ancient Roman Empire, I tried to brush up on my knowledge of the history of Western Civilization. Just to make a full disclosure, the only “D” I made in college was in…
Baptists divided on Florida amendment
By Jeff Brumley Florida Amendment 8 has pitted secular civil rights and education activists against religious conservatives in a rhetorical battle over the meaning of religious liberty. But the measure also has re-exposed the divide between Baptists over the separation…
Election day communion
With the Presidential debates well over, millions of people are heading to the polls. One of the key voting blocks will have an opportunity to make their vote a spiritual act. My church, The First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa,…
Communing with saints
By Molly T. Marshall Some of the excesses of Catholic spirituality — veneration of statues and feasts that celebrate primarily a European notion of sainthood (brave men and docile women) — have left our branch of the church unsure about…