Opinion
When Christian Insurance Firms Bamboozle the Least of These
Faith-based Christian healthcare organizations can exclude anyone with preexisting conditions from healthcare coverage and price gouge the sick and recovering with no consequence. Yet, who would Jesus insure?
US Imam’s Life Story Filled with Humor, Hope, Mercy
To read the life story of Imam Imad Enchassi is to marvel at how he has lived through war, ongoing discrimination and the travails of a refugee – and done so with great success and with mercy and love beyond degree.
Why the Future of Ministry Leadership Won’t Be in Seminary
With many grads incurring sizable debt after seminary, many churches cannot afford to pay an affordable salary to professionally trained clergy. We need shorter and more focused virtual centers of learning.
Ashes to Ashes and Everything in Between
By: Ginger Hughes The minister smeared the ashes across my forehead—one swipe down and one across forming a misshapen cross. “From the dust God created you, and to the dust you shall return,” she whispered, looking into my eyes. It’s the season of Lent—a time of...
Inspecting Difference Between Secularization, Secularism
The difference between ‘secularization’ and ‘secularism’ is not widely known. Secularism is a worldview with no room for God. Secularization represents a society’s unwillingness to enforce any particular worldviews on its citizens.
Look Back | Lent Reminds You to Seize the Moment
Christians today use the 40 days of Lent for introspection, self-examination and repentance. Preparations are being made all around us for another growth cycle. Why should that be any different within our spiritual lives?
Are You Prepared to Give Up All Hope for Lent?
The 40 days of Lent place Christians on a journey of self-denial. However, the larger lesson of Lent might be we are called to abandon worldly hopes in order to embrace God’s hopes. Are you ready to give up all hope?
Lenten Lectionary | Journeying with Jesus into the Wilderness
Lent provides an opportunity to go knowingly into the wilderness, to visit Jesus as he is being tempted and to gather strength from Jesus’ strength. To have an insight into Jesus’ wilderness journey gives insight into our own.
Kids See the Truth: We Should Love and Care for the Homeless
We are responsible for each other, including homeless people. Children understand we should love and care for homeless kids and families and provide them with housing, clothing, medical care and education. Do adults understand too?
Lenten Lectionary | Are You Angry When Your Cheese is Moved?
Our journey through Lent mirrors the cheese, mice and mazes in the business fable, ‘Who Moved My Cheese?’ When circumstances change, do we continue on despite the change or do we get angry and frustrated?
Ash Wednesday: The Oddity of Prizing a Day of Great Darkness
While it appears odd to prize a day of great darkness and a day memorializing death, Ash Wednesday reminds us God has not left humanity alone in darkness. Jesus was – and will be – there in that darkness.
Having Faith: Planting Shade Trees We’ll Never See Bloom
Even though we may not see the fruits of our labor for others in our lifetimes, the people of God must decide that hardships will not embitter us but instead will embolden us to help bring about a change.
Why You Should Begin the Lenten Journey
An ancient practice that Baptist congregations and individuals have recently begun to embrace, the Lenten season is all about realism and renewal as we bring our lives before God for examination and deepened relationship.
Oh, Lord! Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
When writing on controversial subjects for the public, it’s easy to be misunderstood. No matter how hard you try to make your thoughts clear, if the subject is controversial, you will be misunderstood by some. Case in point.
Humor, hope and mercy fill the pages of an American imam’s life story
By John D. Pierce My favorite line among so many in Cloud Miles: A Remarkable Journey of Mercy, Peace and Purpose (2020, Nurturing Faith) is when Imam Imad Enchassi recalls receiving and responding to an ugly message posted on his Facebook page. With typical, though...
Why So Many People Admired Basketball Legend Kobe Bryant
Still feeling the pain of his death on Jan. 26, the public will pay their respects today to basketball legend Kobe Bryant. Since the beloved athlete’s death, many have asked, “What did Kobe do to deserve this outpouring of emotion?”
Tel Motza: The Temple Beneath the Bridge
Beneath a huge bridge on the main road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, you can find the remains of an ancient temple, known as Tel Motza, which may have been used to worship both Yahweh and other gods.
When Dreams Reveal Our Deepest Hurts and Joys
I dreamed I was at a denominational meeting, where male colleagues silenced and shamed me. When dreams reveal our deepest hurts and our deepest joys, perhaps these dreams are not dreams at all but visions of the divine.
Look Back | 10 Reasons Why Justice is Central to the Gospel
God’s justice and forgiveness are interwoven in the cloth of the gospel. Yet ever since the time of the prophets we’ve needed to clarify for each generation the call to justice. Here are 10 reasons justice is central to the gospel.
What to Do When Your Sunday School Teacher is Arrested
Betty Jane Crandall is an unlikely lawbreaker. The 80-year-old retired elementary school teacher and preschool Sunday school teacher was handcuffed for committing an act of civil disobedience to call attention to the climate crisis.
Why You Should Be Afraid When Gov’t Abandons Democracy
Be afraid. While fear shouldn’t rule us, we should have reasonable fear of the reasonably possible. Reckless drivers, human-caused climate change or active shooters. And of government leaders turning our democracy into an autocracy.
Is Something in the Texas Wind?
While the tireless work of Texas Baptists to fend off conservative fundamentalists paid off for decades, it seems the Texas winds have changed. Conservative Baptists are inching closer to acting like the fundamentalists of old.
How Changes in Climate Have Driven Religious Revolutions
Whether human-cause or naturally occurring, climate events have a unique connection to religion. Time and again, significant movements or transitions in religious history are linked to smaller or middling climate events.
When Jerry Clower came to Ringgold because we didn’t know any better
By John D. Pierce This is a tribute to my friend and high school classmate Tim Clark, whose life we will celebrate on Thursday afternoon (Feb. 20) at Ringgold (Ga.) United Methodist Church. Like classes before us, the Ringgold High class of 1974 wanted to leave a gift...
Despite Ouster, Baptist Church Stands for Jesus’ Love for All
First Baptist Church of Decatur, Georgia, was asked to leave the Atlanta Metro Baptist Association for ordaining a deacon who is gay. The association’s action diminishes, even dismisses, the depth, breadth and power of Jesus’ love.
Why Our Divided America Needs an Interim President Now
America’s citizens are divided. Some will vote for anyone but Trump. Others will vote for ‘the lesser of two evils.’ We need to talk about who we want to be as Americans. Until then, perhaps we need an interim president.
Presidents Day: Celebrating Leaders Who Served the People
The words of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, two iconic leaders we honor on Presidents Day, reflect deeper qualities of character defining the presidency as a service to the people based on integrity, morality and reverence.
When US Christians Surrender Power to Grow the Gospel
Even as US Christians today exercise immense economic, military and cultural power, an example from a Latin American ministry in the ’60s shows what can happen when they give up power to develop strong Latin leadership.
3 Ways Christians Can Bring Peace to Our Politicized Society
Overcoming and healing social divisions in the US requires all of us. To stop and reverse this social-fragmentation trend, we must hold our leaders to a higher standard that humanizes the basic dignity of those on the other side.
Look Back | Happy Valentine’s Day: A Do-Over to Get It Right
Would Jesus tolerate Valentine’s Day? Human love only goes so far in approximating what perfect love is. We’re good at loving those who are close to us. For a holiday do-over, let’s extend God’s love, justice and peace to all.