In the haze of collegiate commencement, the humanities did little to lay a clear career path for me, so I thought the church might and joined the local Presbyterians in college outreach. For the eighteen years prior, church proved to be where I could turn for leadership, discipleship, even work opportunities,...

I received a text last night from a friend telling me that her husband who moved out several months ago, has asked for a divorce. I have two friends whose husbands were in ministry, then not, then eventually their marriages ended. I have a friend whose husband no longer believes in God because after...

Richard “Dick” Brogan was a personal friend, and he was one of my heroes. Dick was a white Mississippi Baptist minister who worked tirelessly to build relationships between whites and blacks during segregation and even up until he passed away last year. Not so long ago, Dick was followed, harassed,...

I don’t like 95% of Christian pop music. It’s mostly crap. Worship music is even worse. It’s crap because it’s regurgitated, copy cat, completely uninspired junk. I mostly fault the Christian music industry wanting to play it safe all the time, but I also fault artists who...

Off came the shoes. First the left, then the right. This prince-turned-shepherd had never seen a burning bush before, and when the Voice inside the bush said to remove his shoes, he didn’t argue. But his don’t-argue-with-the-Voice policy didn’t last long. As soon as the Voice began dictating...

NOTE: This is a meditation I presented in worship at University Baptist Church, Starkville, MS. It is inspired by a song, “Burden of Belief,” by Daniel Bailey, and the Gospel of John … FULL SCRIPTURE TEXT:  John 20:19-29 (NLT) “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, “You...

Back in the day, when God wanted to separate King David from his personal darkness, he sent a prophet to entrap him. The prophet told David about a rich man who killed poor man to gain his sheep. This, naturally, got the king’s ire and he demanded justice. The hook was set, so the prophet told David...

  I have a number of identifiers on my various venues I write for and on my email signature: heretic, antagonist, father, son, instigator, pop culture junkie, theologian, social media guru, and so on. But one seems to resonate with folks more than any other: GOD NERD For some it’s just a funny...

Me with Donald Miller after the movie By making a small contribution to last year’s effort to fund the making of “Blue Like Jazz” via Kickstarter, I put myself in line to receive an invitation to the Fort Worth premiere on March 21. This showing was part of a 30-city tour...

Every living thing on this planet to my knowledge has an exhaust pipe if you will. Thus I conclude that in theory God does too. I have no verifiable evidence to support this assumption but I’m sticking to my story. This morning for some reason or another I was busy telling my Chinese girlfriend that...