Kevin B. Blackistone: They wanted recognition of their right to unionize, which they had done. They wanted their labor commensurately compensated rather than leaving them at or below the poverty line. They wanted what compensation they did receive protected against the whims of bosses who often took it away at the slightest perceived transgression. They wanted health-care benefits, pensions and vacations. So most of the 1,300 black men who buttressed the Memphis sanitation department went on strike in February 1968.... Read more

From Richard Marosi: Mexican drug cartels have burrowed dozens of tunnels in the last decade, outfitted them with rail and cart systems to whisk drugs under the U.S. border and, after being discovered by authorities, abandoned them. But some of the illicit passageways live on. At least six previously discovered border tunnels have been reactivated by Mexican trafficking groups in recent years, exposing a recurring large-scale smuggling threat, according to U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials. The breaches of border... Read more

It has been awhile since the last post on Genesis, but it is time to step back and wrap up the story with the Joseph narrative, chapters 37, 39-50. The story is well known – long a Sunday School and sermon favorite.I brings the narrative of Genesis from the patriarchs to the opening situation in Exodus. The sons of Jacob move to Egypt where they become the people of Israel under bondage and in need of deliverance. The story can... Read more

The numbers are not good. Church attendance is declining; congregations are aging. Lots of folks are discouraged. The media doesn’t mind telling the world the church is dwindling. Critics of the church abound. Secularization takes on cosmic powers. But there are what the authors of Growing Young “bright spots” of churches that are reaching and involving young adults and hence these churches are “growing young.” The authors are Kara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Brad Griffin, and the research involved the Fuller... Read more

Michael Brown: There is shocking news this week from Germany. Three Palestinian Muslims who torched a synagogue in Wuppertal, Germany have been given suspended sentences because their actions allegedly represented a justified criticism of Israel. A regional court has upheld the decision of a lower court, also agreeing that the actions of these Muslim men were not antisemitic. And to think that this happened in Germany, a nation that still bears the shame of the Holocaust. According to many historians,... Read more

By Bob Allen, at Baptist News A decade-old emphasis encouraging moderate Baptist churches to invite a woman to preach one Sunday in February has contributed to a shift in how people in the pew think about women in ministry, a longtime advocate for pulpit inclusiveness said in a newsletter promoting the Martha Stearns Marshall Month of Preaching for 2017. Pam Durso, executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry, said last year 211 churches participated in the annual emphasis launched in... Read more

Sean Palmer is the lead Pastor at the Vine Church in Temple Texas. You can follow him @SeanPalmer I agree with those who feel that America is headed for uncertain times in our near future. According to a new Quinnipiac University Poll released last Tuesday, America’s President-Elect, Donald Trump, will enter the presidency with a historically low approval rating, only 37%. Trump’s approval rating has actually declined since his popular vote loss and electoral college win last November. At present,... Read more

Cynthia Westfall, in her new book Paul and Gender, knows the traditional interpretation and contends it must be re-examined. Hers is not a book shaped by a new method or hermeneutic but instead by a historical and contextual and coherency method, and here are some of her big ideas: Traditional views are more in line with Greco-Roman social practices and ideologies than biblical ones. Biblical scholars often assume that Paul’s theology about gender directly corresponds with Greek philosophical thought (Aristotelian) and... Read more

This week we remember the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his hard words to clergy who would rather “Wait” and his hopeful dream of a great, united America.  This week we also we also inaugurate the next president of the United States of America, Donald Trump. Each one declares a vision for America, a vision that the church in America must in some way live in. But what was Paul’s vision for the church? The gospel we preach is explosively disruptive. Like Martin... Read more

In our last post (Are We Morally Obligated) on Tim Keller’s recent book Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical we dug into the issue of the foundation for morals … with a rather vigorous discussion in the comments. In the next chapter Keller digs in deeper, and suggests an important role for religious belief in general and Christian faith in particular. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are... Read more