The United States is bitterly divided along what we now call red/blue, conservative/liberal, Republican/Democrat lines. Of course, not everyone fits into those boxes, but enough do for the statement to be accurate. The mutual suspicion and social separation between the…
Concern for our nation at Bubba-Doo’s
“Pastor, I just don’t understand how we got here.” Now if you feel like you just dropped in on a conversation that had already started, that’s understandable. Let me catch you up on a fascinating chat I participated in the…
What I learned about Polish hospitality toward Ukrainians: There but for the grace of God
I recently had the opportunity to spend a week in Wroclaw, Poland. The original intention for my trip was to teach a spiritual renewal retreat for church leaders over a three-day weekend. The retreat was a planned partnership between The…
If you love your party more than your state, go do something else, Andy Stanley tells Georgia legislators
The Georgia House of Representatives invited megachurch pastor Andy Stanley to speak to them as chaplain of the day March 15, and the message he dropped on them could have come from an Old Testament prophet. Stanley, who has been…
Who needs the church when we have the biblical worldview?
After his second visit to New York in 1939, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrestled with the character of Protestant churches in America versus those in Europe in an essay titled “Protestantism without Reformation.” Even as he introduced his argument, which plays up…
The kingdom of heaven is like the opening ceremony of the Olympics
One of Jesus’ most common didactic formulas was the phrase “the kingdom of God is like … .” Jesus told stories or parables of common illustrations that related to the experiences of his hearers and have served as timeless word…
Watching the SBC, I know my father would be grieved
As I reflect on what the Southern Baptist Convention has become, I can’t help but believe that my father would be grieved. Once the music ended, it became difficult to discern who the message was supposed to be about. When…
Amid the hypocrisy of critiquing ‘unity,’ maybe we need a different goal: Cooperation
We need to debunk the argument that achieving “unity” means everyone will get their way. That’s not logically possible. This fallacious thinking is emerging as a primary conservative critique of the new administration in Washington, D.C. And once again, it…
Listen more, speak less, dispel anger with love
Our country is politically torn apart. This is the reality that greets us every day in the national media, regardless of which network, website or newspaper we follow. Our states are labeled by their Republican or Democratic governors, eliciting opinions…