In early May 2011, a majority of the 173 presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church (USA) had approved a change to the ordination standards.  The amendment will remove the constitutional requirement that all ministers, elders, and deacons live in “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a...

Warning: David Platt’s new book is not written by Rob Bell, and it is not titled Love Wins. I just want to get that out of the way before we start. I sometimes wonder what the apostle Paul would have written to the church of believers in America. What would he praise us for? How would he rebuke us?...

It happens to all of us, I suppose. It’s a tragedy when it doesn’t. We age and age and age to the point where we are known as old. “Old” is not necessarily bad, O ye of few years; but “old” is limiting—and not merely in the physical sense. The older we get the less mobile we are, sure,...

I was recently offered a job as the director of a children’s ministry at a local church.  An entire wing of the over 40,000 sq. ft. building would be for my use, a wing whose walls had been painted by another church group sometime in the 70s.  One room had a mural of Adam and Eve, the latter a blonde...

The church I grew up at had a sister parish in Saint-Louis-de-Sud, Haiti. The church sent mission trips to Haiti twice a year. We would build schools, run electricity and hold medical clinics. From a young age, I was fascinated by the stories we heard from those returning from trips to Haiti. I repeatedly...

A few thousand Southern Baptists from all over the United States filed in to the civic center in downtown Indianapolis. We sang hymns together, led by slick looking choir leaders. President Bush addressed us via satellite, which triggered the biggest applause of the whole event. I sat and observed, excited...

First, let me say I am not scientifically inclined. I took one year of biology and two years of Forensics Science in high school (it was a law-based pseudo-magnet school). I’m not sure how reliable the latter was, since the teacher taught us J. Edgar Hoover became President of the United States....

Read this. That’s all.

Big, big thanks to my friend Jonah, who alerted me to The New York Times‘ article on Mark Driscoll. I’ve never attended a service at Mars Hill, and I’ve never met Mark Driscoll. But I’ve met plenty of people who have. When asked for their opinion of Mark, the invariable response...

Last Sunday, Greater Grace Temple, a church in Detroit, Michigan, brought three hybrid SUVs onto their altar. During the service, Bishop Charles Ellis lead his congregation in prayers for the bailout of the auto industry to go through. Yesterday, I posted an entry about the service, and I admitted that...