By Rev. Trey Lyon “Go to jail together?” I had heard it too, and the fifth grader sitting next to me, coloring his picture of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., cocked his head to the side and looked at me. The truth is I had never noticed the phrase. “I have a dream today” that part I knew. “That one day every valley shall be exalted and the crooked places made straight.” I knew that part too–it’s Isaiah, after all.... Read more
On September 20th of last year, everything changed for me and other Charlotteans. Keith Lamott Scott was killed by a Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Officer near his home in the University Area. Almost immediately after the shooting, the news of Scott’s death emerged on social media and local news. Protests began and the real Charlotte came out for the world to see. Some accounts were translated through traditional media networks: newspaper, cable news, network news, radio, and press conferences. While others streamed on Facebook live, Twitter and other online and social media. Read more
Perhaps we can all channel the spirits of St. Paul and Martin Luther King, Jr. We can begin by asking tough questions. Who in our community is profiting from unacceptable housing? Who is making money off of so-called payday loans? Who is financially advantaged by war? And here may be the most difficult question to ask: How am I, without even realizing it, contributing to a system which supports oppressive idolatry? Read more
Mission as identity is not about short-term or long-term missions. The efficacy of a missional identity has little to do with how much time one spends being missional. When it comes to a missional identity, the focus rests on how we see ourselves as actors in a troubled world; actors seeking out meaningful relationships and thinking critically in order to engage and impact our world. It is important to note that development of a missional identity is not solely the prerogative of the institutional church. Cultivating a missional identity is the responsibility of individual God followers who, in community effect a change of identity for the whole. Read more
I harbor no illusions that we will make everything right that is wrong. But I keep hoping. I keep hoping that we will come a little closer. We will bind up some of what is broken. We will piece together something that sometimes seems too shattered to repair. That by worshiping and coming to the table together we will journey through 2017 with something more than how we seem to have ended 2016. Read more
A Baptist missions leader writes about his journey to overcoming his addiction to politics and the 24-hour cable news cycle and suggests ways for others to follow suit. Read more
More or less? Sustainable or unsustainable? Renewable or unrenewable? Trinity or trifecta? Which will it be? The shape and future of our planet are affected by how we choose to proceed. Read more
Why do only men take up the offering plates? Why do people laugh when children answer questions during the children’s sermon? Why do I need to pay attention during the sermon? Why do we dunk people all the way under water in baptism? Why are people quieter in the sanctuary than in other places? Read more
LUCHA Ministries, located in Fredericksburg, Virginia, is a faith-based, non-profit organization dedicated to serving our area’s first-generation Latino community. We believe Jesus’ call to show mercy unconditionally to “the stranger” (Matthew 5:7; Matthew 25:35) clearly defines our response to the needs and challenges Latinos and their families face. Read more
Regardless of the season, we must learn and (re)learn how to wait, not sitting idly by for the divine intervention, but springing forth in loving initiative that greets the new born Christ, the risen savior, and even the God that dwells among us in the most ordinary of times. It isn’t easy to be caught between the impetus and the result. But, I believe God finds us in those moments and challenges us to better embody the servant love Jesus revealed. Read more
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
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