Political Violence: Lower the Temperature & Speak Truth, Too

Last updated on: September 13, 2025 at 11:18 am By Gregory T. Smith

Once again, political violence has people at odds. Here’s how you can lower the temperature in conversation by speaking the truth in love. Over the past several years, political violence has increased. Reasonable people on both sides decry the use of physical violence. Yet did you ever stop to consider the spiritual and psychological violence we commit in the name of our truth? As Christians, we can’t avoid addressing the hard topics that center on justice, morality, and public life.... Read more

Holy Spirit and the Art of Renaming God

Last updated on: September 1, 2025 at 7:17 am By Gregory T. Smith

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For those who can no longer relate to Deity in anthropomorphic terms, relating to God as Holy Spirit can help revive a floundering faith. It might sound odd to say that renaming God as “The Holy Spirit” is an innovation. As Christians, we’re so used to this divine title. Perhaps we could use a little reclaiming with the renaming. Too often, Christians fall into one of two camps regarding the Holy Spirit. The Pentecostal/Charismatic side tends to overemphasize the... Read more

Ending Church Conflict: 5 Loaves, 2 Fish, 1 Pouting Pastor

Last updated on: September 13, 2025 at 11:19 am By Gregory T. Smith

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The food pantry was my project, my baby. I started it—but they took it over. Church conflict grew, until I realized I was the problem. Pastors aren’t immune to immense egos. In fact, sometimes we excel at developing them. Here’s what I did when I realized that, while we all had issues, I could only truly deal with my own. Five Loaves, Two Fish When I was a kid, my parents had a tabletop plaque that read, “Love is a... Read more

Marvel’s Thunderbolts* Highlights Mental Health & Addiction

Last updated on: September 1, 2025 at 7:15 am By Gregory T. Smith

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Marvel’s Thunderbolts* does more than set the scene for the “New Avengers.” It also highlights mental health and addiction. I’ve gotta admit—I should have watched this film in the theater. Nothing matches a Marvel movie for theatrical greatness. If you want to experience the fights, explosions, and dramatic musical score in its full glory, you must see it in the theater. But I waited until after Disney Plus’s streaming release, on August 27. It was a big mistake—but I was... Read more

Overdose Awareness: We are One Big Family

Last updated on: August 25, 2025 at 7:46 am By Gregory T. Smith

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Has an overdose touched your community or someone you love? Overdose Awareness Day ends the stigma and saves lives. As a pastor, I used to view substance use and its related problems through the black-and-white lens of sin-versus-righteousness. People with addiction just needed Jesus, I thought. If they hadn’t gained victory, they just hadn’t prayed or obeyed enough. When I pivoted to my second career in social services, I came to see things differently. Overdose Awareness Day August 31, 2025,... Read more

I’m in the Lord’s Army: The AWANA Atrocity

Last updated on: August 24, 2025 at 9:18 am By Gregory T. Smith

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“I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery…but I’m in the Lord’s Army!” And AWANA is the bootcamp. If you grew up in the Evangelical church, no doubt you learned that song, complete with hand motions. If you missed out on that bit of Christian Nationalist propaganda, here’s a video, just for your own personal indoctrination: Militarized Religion If you raised your kids in an Evangelical church, they may have attended AWANA,... Read more

To Spank or Not to Spank: Between the Bible & the Belt

Last updated on: August 22, 2025 at 7:51 pm By Gregory T. Smith

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The Late James Dobson used to quote, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” On International Youth Day, love teaches better than spanking. Trigger Warning: The following article involves physical, psychological, and religious abuse of children. When I was young, my parents didn’t beat me. I wasn’t abused. I knew that I was loved. In many ways, my folks were model parents of the 1970s and 1980s. And, as Evangelicals who were the products of their times, they believed... Read more

Jesus & Lao Tzu: How to Make Yourself Content

Last updated on: July 28, 2025 at 7:55 pm By Gregory T. Smith

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We live in a high-pressure, commercial society that relies on making you discontent. How can you make yourself content, instead? I remember visiting an elderly widow in her home. When I knocked, she said, “Come in,” without rising to get the door. I let myself in and walked through her kitchen into her living room, where she sat with hands folded in her lap, facing a blank-screened TV. A closed book lay beside her. “Were you reading?” I asked. “No,”... Read more

Can Christians Rename God as “The Universe” and as “Nature”?

Last updated on: July 26, 2025 at 5:09 pm By Gregory T. Smith

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These days, you hear many people substitute the word “God” with “The Universe” or “Nature.” Can Christians justifiably rename God this way? In this series, “Renaming God,” I have addressed many of the fresh names believers have given the Divine. As part of their religious deconstruction, renegotiation, or disentanglement, many Christians have found it helpful to call God by new and creative names. Today, I will look at two names you’ve certainly heard people use as substitutes for the... Read more

Outdoor Worship: What if the Church Never Had Buildings?

Last updated on: June 27, 2025 at 8:22 pm By Gregory T. Smith

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What if, early on, the church had decided to always gather outdoors instead of in buildings? How would the church and world look different? Take a tour of Christendom, and you can visit beautiful basilicas and stunning sanctuaries dating back to antiquity. Go to church this coming Sunday, and I’ll lay you odds that you’ll step through the doors into an air-conditioned chancel that protects you from the elements as you lift your heart in song. Through the centuries,... Read more

Which major prophet book is directly after Isaiah?