The late radio teacher, J. Vernon McGee, had a famous line: “When Satan fell, he fell into the choir loft!” This comment may be a bit arcane since contemporary churches may not have a loft or choir, but a ‘praise team” on stage or platform. But maybe McGee was onto something—at least in a few […]

Our parents thought they were anarchists and subversives sent across the pond to corrupt our morals—something of a payback for the Boston Tea Party. The Beatles had long hair. They were trend-setters. We teens began to follow suit. The pictures look funny now. I remember one night watching the news with our family. Anti-Vietnam protestors […]

The Roman god Janus was the god of two faces. A mature face looked back with reflection. A youthful face looked forward with anticipation. How fitting the first month of the year is named for him in the sense that we do both things. I looked back at 2025 in my inaugural sermon this year […]

A colleague accosted me in the Monday morning pastors meeting after Bob and Kay joined our church the day before. He told me he’d invested many hours in marital counseling leading to their recommitment, and he was disturbed to hear they’d presented themselves for membership in our church. He believed I’d “courted” and persuaded them […]

She called and asked if I’d like to look through her father’s library since she needed to empty the house. I found some old classics, and a book by Millard Fuller that I thought was unavailable. Fuller established Habitat for Humanity after his time at Koinonia Farms in Americus, Georgia. Koinonia was founded by Clarence […]

This column was first used on Oct. 2, 1987 during a time of several national strikes: It was announced today that the nation’s pastors have planned a work stoppage to begin at midnight Sunday. This action follows on the heels of the baseball, air controllers and National Football League strikes, and may be the most […]

A pastor on a denominationally related Facebook page took issue with ministers dressing casually in the pulpit. This is truly an unwinnable argument. Many congregations have been influenced by the contemporary church movement, though this movement from the 80s is hardly contemporary anymore. One of the precepts is that members intentionally “dress down.” A common […]

My neighbor stopped me to announce he’d taken up lawn care as a second job. He asked if I’d be interested in patronizing him. I’ve always taken care of our yard, without charge, but I know sometimes things happen on weekends, or I get rained out. “How much would it cost?” I inquired. “Probably about […]

Our Alabama Baptist retreat at Shocco Springs is a gorgeous place, and I’ve enjoyed every event I’ve attended there. Several years ago, I attended a two-day training course for pastors. A conference for senior adults was on site at the same time. I saw that the other group was having a concert that night when […]

The presidential campaign in 1976 was a bitter one, pitting the incumbent, Gerald R. Ford, against the challenger, Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter. Ford was named vice president after the resignation of Spiro Agnew and became president after the resignation of Richard Nixon, making him our only unelected vice president and president. Within weeks of his […]

It was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Actually, no. It was a long time ago, but it wasn’t so far away. It was at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. Ethics professor Dr. Henlee Barnette taught one day about God and government. In his lecture, he read from a […]

I talked with her lately and she told me, good-naturedly, about her “divided” family. “I’m Episcopalian, and I married a Pentecostal,” she said. There’s nothing wrong with this. I’ve known several “divided” families who made it work. I think the main thing to consider is the children, whether they’re in dad’s church or mom’s church. […]

Many things are different in today’s church. Research shows we took a hit during COVID-19, just as other organizations did. Some who weren’t core members, but on the sidelines, haven’t come back. On average churches have between 60 and 80% of our pre-COVID attendance. But hope springs eternal. We trust these wandering sheep will come […]

It’s said that no one enters ministry for financial gain, but several recent accounts take issue with this. Let me hasten to say that the overwhelming majority of ministers live and work with integrity. And many live below the comparable wages of their parishioners. Nor do pastors take what belongs to others. A former staff […]

It was a simple “aside” during midweek Bible study when I asked attendees how the congregation might react the following Sunday if I asked everyone to take off their shoes in reverence to God, as Moses did at Horeb. A comedian spoke up first, asking for advanced warning so he wouldn’t wear socks with holes […]

It was a mission of mercy with an act of larceny. My wife suggested I visit a relative in Tennessee. I responded as I normally do with, “When do I have time?” But on further reflection, she was right. My relative’s wife has dementia and is in hospice care, and I’d not seen them in […]

On a lark, I located Robert Fulghum’s three books lately and reread them. He was my favorite writer in the ’80s, best-known for “All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” My favorite story is the namesake of his second book. Fulghum reported that firefighters rescued a man from a burning bed. They asked […]

I was in college when our pastor took two or three of us fledgling ministers to the church sanctuary and showed us how to sit up straight on the platform without slouching. “Wear a crisp white shirt and be sure your socks are long enough,” he said. “Don’t forget you speak for God.” I’ve often […]

It was May 8, and the radio DJ announced, “Today is Ricky Nelson’s birthday,” as he prepped Nelson’s song, “Travelin’ Man.” Nelson was a TV star and a pop singer of the golden oldies era who had 54 hits on Billboard’s “Hot 100.” He, sadly, left us at age 45. He flew from Guntersville after […]

It’s been a season of hard-charging faith documentaries, including “The Secrets of Hillsong” and “Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets.” Both saddened me. I never watched any of the Duggar series on TLC, though I was aware of the basic plot through word-of-mouth. The “Shiny” documentary intertwines with the ministry of Bill Gothard, the Duggars’ […]

The recent Netflix series on the 30th anniversary of the Waco, Texas, tragedy spurred my interest, and I found some new books at our local library chronicling this event. I remembered some of the details from 1993 but these recent volumes supplied greater detail. Both President Clinton and Attorney General Reno admitted in their autobiographies […]

Baptist historian Leon McBeth called it “the woman question,” and Southern Baptists yet struggle with it. Sixty percent of our members are women. Normally we don’t hesitate asking them to serve in most church positions because we know they bring dispatch, order and grace to the job. But the two places we approach with fear […]

I met them at the baseball field in Vestavia, Ala., where their son is our grandson’s teammate. Something was said about her difficulty learning English, so I asked where she was from. “Moldova,” she said. “I’m Russian.” I told them I’d had a student at Judson College from Moldova named Anna, and then I struggled […]

My sister and I traveled several years ago to visit a relative in prison in another state. I’ve been to a number of prisons and they’re all dark and foreboding. A correctional officer once escorted me from the gym where my class met to a cellblock so I could see it firsthand. I still shudder when thinking about those […]