During this season of Advent, we are waiting. I am personally waiting for calm, for a sense of peace in our world..
Anybody else out there in churchland struggling with a bit of a Christmas hangover? For me, it’s not quite like those who..
Given the disheartening drumbeat about membership shrinkage in mainline denominations, it’s easy to miss stories about what some of our congregations are..
What does a vital music ministry look like in a healthy church? It is my belief that a vital music ministry has..
The 2017 legislation passed as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TC&JA) has several implications for tax year 2018. The 1,097-page document..
American Presbyterians have an imperfect history regarding racial justice, but in the 20th century they took some courageous stands. While white people..
This Advent, I’m centering myself in Isaiah 30:15: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall..
Guest commentary by Bruce Reyes-Chow “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink,..
The Christian tradition has always been home to human evils that divide and destroy. The Crusades of the Middle Ages, chattel slavery..
During this Advent, I am reading through the Book of Revelation every week. Sure, it’s a helter-skelter time for a pastor, but..
Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary originated in 1867 in Charlotte, North Carolina, as the Freedmen’s Institute of North Carolina. It was established..
The history of African-American Presbyterians – and, yes, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – must acknowledge the transformative life and ministry of..
Each Advent we light candles of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. We wait, and we pray until the day we celebrate the..
Guest commentary by Robert McCutcheon I was baptized in 1951 into Pittsburgh’s 6th United Presbyterian Church, now Eastminster; my introduction to the city’s..
In her inaugural novel, “Wise Blood,” Flannery O’Connor pictures her protagonist restlessly sitting on a train. “Hazel Motes sat at a forward..
No sooner had James Cone (THE Rev. Dr. James Cone) folded himself into my compact car and clicked the seatbelt, I blurted,..
Just a week ago, as I write these words, I joined a great many other Americans to watch two testimonies on television..
It is a familiar litany: Seminaries are struggling to recruit students, there is an impending minister shortage and pastor burnout in the..
This season’s festive cards that crush and crowd the mails bear witness to the limits, all those insistent boundaries that ever mark..
“When you belong to this church family, the family you belong to is bigger than just this church.” That’s how I start..
Guest commentary by Will Berger I've spent the better part of my 25 years in Nashville being a preacher/musician and a musician/preacher...
“From dust you were formed and to dust you will return” It was Ash Wednesday, and the crowd was small since it..
Dear Mary Eliza and Teddy, You know that mommy is a pastor and you have seen me in my robe. Especially you,..
Why do churches sell their property? Sometimes a congregation gets too small and too old and the church closes its doors. Sometimes..
Sometimes a congregation decides to sell all or part of its property because it needs the money. And sometimes the decision to..
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