Church

Church

Thinking about Signs

I was driving through a neighboring town this past week and my route took me past one of the mainline denomination churches there.  It was one of those old, majestic buildings with plenty of stained glass and large, wooden front doors.  Personally, I’ve always appreciated those buildings because they were often built as a testimony to a creative, majestic, and…

A New Year, An Old Story

Martin Scorsese has been one of the most admired and prolific directors and producers of feature films over the past 50 years.  His films are known for their unflinching takes on some of the darker aspects of life (though they do not represent his entire oeuvre, he is perhaps best known for his crime-drama works like “Goodfellas,” “Casino,” and “The Departed”). …

Receive, Reject, or Redeem?

Before Aryn and I were married, we spent a lot of time talking about our beliefs, how we did things, and how we would do things after we tied the knot (given that we had a very long-distance relationship for about three years, talking took up the vast majority of our time!).  Often, these conversations concerned how we planned to raise our children, should God be…

Denominational Life

One of the key distinctives of Baptist life is the doctrine of the autonomy of the local church.  In a nutshell, this means that there is no hierarchy over local Baptist churches that is outside of that church’s governance model.  There are no Baptist bishops, presbyteries, archbishops, or popes.  Local churches operate independently under the headship of…

A New “Normal”?

Back in the early 1960s, the philosopher Hannah Arendt covered the trial of Adolf Eichmann, the notorious Nazi who oversaw the logistics of transporting millions of Jews and other peoples whom the Nazis considered “undesirable” to concentration camps and their deaths.  As Arendt spent time observing and studying the case, she was struck by the fact that Eichmann was…

Cynicism and Benny Hinn

Sometimes, you encounter an event that causes you to scratch your head and struggle to reconcile two things that you didn’t think could exist simultaneously.  This happened to me recently (as I’m sure it happened to many others) when I heard that Benny Hinn had publicly made some statements that seemed to indicate he was turning away from the prosperity gospel he had…

What Excites You?

As much as Fall may mean crisp evenings, the changing (and falling) leaves, and pumpkin spice for some people, for me it means the return of college football and my beloved Bulldogs teeing it up between the hedges at Sanford Stadium on the campus of the University of Georgia.  I love the sport of football in general, but I especially love the intricacies of college…

#SBC Thoughts – Part 3

This week’s thought is from Marie Babcock, who served as a messenger to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention this year.  I am thankful for her – as well as the other messengers’ – prayerful and thoughtful participation this year.  I thought it would be a good thing for you to hear the perspectives of some of those who attended and not just my own. …