It was all a house of cards, but no one knew it. What seemed to be impenetrable and just “how things were” was pushed on by a few sorority girls at the University of Alabama and the structure is now cracking and beginning to fall. How far will this go? How much introspection will take… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Leadership
A Plea to Millennials from a GenXer
A couple of weeks ago, something of a dust up occurred after blogger Rachel Held Evans wrote a piece for CNN declaring that Millennials were leaving the church because of the vapid nature of Evangelical religious experience. I wrote a reply to that assertion and declared that there was actually a lot more to it… Continue Reading
Church as Organic Collaboration vs. Hierarchical Institution
Gateway is starting a community garden this Spring. The purpose is to grow food for the people who participate in it and have enough left over to give to the poor through our food pantry and other venues. But, I have another reason for it. I hope that it will be living metaphor for how… Continue Reading
Why Christians SHOULD Be Involved in Politics
Over the years, I have advocated a position that I call Prophetic vs. Political when it comes to a Christian's relationship with the political realm. What I have meant by that is that Christians should not be beholden to a political party or be involved in grasping after power on this earth, even if they… Continue Reading
Lifeway’s Blindside, Cultural Engagement, and Control
A few weeks ago, Lifeway Christian Stores made the decision to pull the movie, The Blind Side, from its shelves because of the protestations of a Florida pastor over some crude language in the film in one of its scenes depicting the urban life that the main character, Michael Oher, was living in at the… Continue Reading
Bonhoeffer on the Kingdom of God and Self
Doing research tonight and I was reading about the German Confessing Church during the Nazi regime of the 1930's and 40's. Of course, I ran across Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Christian, Pastor, and philosopher who opposed the Nazi regime on the basis of Christian fidelity. Here are some quotes that challenged me deeply: “Jesus Christ… Continue Reading
The Apology of Aristides, Fasting, and the Lifestyles of Early Christians
At LIFE Group this past Friday night, we were sitting outside by the fire and talking about prayer and fasting and how the discipline of fasting has a two-fold objective, which is to put away distractions and dependencies to bring us to God and then to give ourselves away to others. Gabe Posey, a member… Continue Reading
Christian Vocation and God’s Benevolent Care
When we think about our "calling," we often think of someone being "called" into full-time ministry. But, that is a very truncated view of what our calling is. From the Latin word for "calling" we get the concept of Vocation. Everyone has a God-given Vocation, a role to play in their family, church, workplace, and… Continue Reading
Why Racial Division in the SBC Is a Gospel Issue (#sbc2011)
Supposedly, the SBC meeting in Phoenix will issue a new declaration on racial discrimination within the Convention that will be multifaceted. This is really important and I am glad that my denomination is continuing to see this as a gospel issue. Dave Miller at SBC Voices explains how he has pushed for this and is… Continue Reading
Haiti’s Suffering: One Year Anniversary of the Earthquake
A year ago today, a massive 7.0 earthquake rocked Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas of impoverished Haiti and killed an estimated 230,000 people, injured over 300,000, and left over one million people homeless. When the news reports began to filter in from Haiti, most in America were shocked at the devastation that we saw. The… Continue Reading