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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”). …
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…
The Billy Graham Rule – Today
Much has been made about the so-called “Billy Graham Rule” in recent years, due to the acknowledgement of many public figures (such as Vice-President Mike Pence) who adhere to it. When Billy Graham was beginning his ministry, he and his team understood that all of their Kingdom efforts could be undermined and discredited by a single accusation of sexual impropriety. …
#SBC Thoughts – Part 2
This week’s thought is from Lisa King, 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…
The Distraction of Boredom
Have you noticed how almost everything in our society today is focused on entertainment? Our lifestyles push us so that we do not have much downtime at all, and much of the time we spend engaged in activity is centered on keeping us entertained. Sports have become a multibillion dollar industry, regardless of the level. For instance, the NFL alone reported $14.2…
The Day After Easter…and Beyond
The weeks leading up to Easter can be a special, if not hectic, time for believers (and especially for churches). There is something incredibly sweet about meditating on our celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are reminded of our need for a Savior, as well as how that Savior was the Second Person on the Trinity who stepped out of eternity and into…
Short Attention Spans
Last week, Sports Illustrated reported that the coach of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, Kliff Kingsbury, has decided to provide “cellphone breaks” during team meetings in order to help his players maintain their concentration and attention. Kingsbury, who previously coached the Texas Tech football team, was noticing what could only be described as withdrawal symptoms…
The End of the World As We Know It
A favorite children’s story is “Chicken Little,” which is about a naïve fowl who has the proclivity to believe the end of the world has begun as the result of some rather mundane event (in many tellings of this fable, an acorn falling out of a tree and hitting her on the head). Chicken Little begins to run to all her friends in order to warn them – quite hysterically –…