I’ve been invited to post occasionally over at Mainstream Baptist Blog Site. Frankly, I wouldn’t consider myself a spokesperson for Mainstream Baptists or any kind of expert in Church and State issues . . . all I can speak to is what I do day in and day out here at Calvary.Shockingly, thinking about all of this inspired the following post at the MB site, so I thought I’d post it here, too:I live at a curious crossroads of faith... Read more
Lately I’ve been listening to The Message on CD as part of my daily spiritual practice. I find the language of Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of scripture often catches my imagination and helps me think about how relevant the words of Jesus are for my own life. I have long owned a printed version of The Message, but listening on CD forced me to hear for the first time Peterson’s introduction. It is too good not to share:This is Eugene Peterson... Read more
Look into their eyes, would you? You can’t even hear them talk but just by looking you know what they’re thinking: “Here we are, ready to change the world! This big city had better be ready for us!” Can you see it in their eyes? Can you imagine the deep conviction and firey faith that inspired two young folks to pack up their lives and move to the big city? This week we welcomed Eric Bebber and Allyson Wisdom, two... Read more
Hey, head over to Ethics Daily to check out this article about “Centrist Baptist Bloggers”. Read more
Since I was on vacation last Sunday the family stayed home from church, too. After an afternoon nap Mark and I came downstairs to find the dining room chairs assembled in rows, the coffee table set up with candles and bulletins (pictured above) thoughtfully provided for each member of the congregation (me and Mark).Turns out the kids had been feverishly working all afternoon to plan the service, including selecting appropriate piano pieces from recent lessons, picking out the tune on... Read more
Just the other day I got an email from my friend Paulo, who is a really nice guy (even though he goes to First Baptist). He indicated to me that I had been tagged on his blog so I ambled on over to check it out. After laughing uproariously for a few moments when I saw that I had been chosen as a favorite blog while Real Live Preacher got an honorable mention, I was really touched that Paulo even... Read more
I went to church today. That statement might not sound so surprising, as I can’t remember a Sunday when I was NOT in church. The difference today was that I was not leading worship, or even attending services at Calvary where, even when I am not preaching I am always “on duty”. Today I had the day off and I was in town, so I leisurely slept late and meandered to worship services at a church in my neighborhood. I... Read more
I gave up the dream of becoming a rock star in sixth grade, to be precise, when my mother would not let me attend a Rick Springfield concert. I loved Rick Springfield and really wanted to stand in the front row swaying to “Jesse’s Girl.” I begged and pleaded, tried everything I could think of to get her let me go.No luck.Last Friday, though, I finally lived the dream. Alas, no Rick Springfield, but I did to rock out (a... Read more
Let’s pause for a moment in the important work of ministry and address the questions raised in my recent post, Mail Call. I decided a long time ago that the call I felt on my life was not to be an activist for the rights of women but to be a pastor to God’s people. This is why I prefer to answer emails like the one I got from my Pen Pal not with proof-texting arguments (though I can certainly... Read more
Thanks to a reader of this blog and new Internet friend, Michael, I have an assignment to complete today. I realized as I thought about this that books intersect our lives at different times and meet us where we happen to be–the utter grace of that intersection is probably what makes the memory of a book so powerful. To celebrate that fact I’ve decided to be honest and not try to sound too spiritual (rather than listing all my books... Read more
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