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Baptists at 400

We now interrupt the Presbyterians’ celebration of John Calvin’s 500th birthday to listen into our Baptist neighbors’ celebration of their 400th birthday.

Memories from seminary

As a charter member of a brand new non-denominational church — fresh out of college with a B.A. in religion and philosophy — I held high hopes of becoming the church’s pastor.

The church S.O.B.

We had just begun to unload the U-haul in the manse driveway — in anticipation of beginning our first ministerial call — when an older gentleman rolled up in his car.

Firefighting

If homes keep burning to the ground should each of us buy a bucket, or should all of us build a fire station? 

Tent to die. Hope to live.

Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)

Editor’s hope

The news sounds frightening. Since the first of the year, Christianity Today Incorporated has shuttered six of its magazines and sold a seventh.

It won’t last, unless …

“There is a new wind blowing through the sometimes musty halls of American Christian churches, and it is sweeping away the hypocrisy, lack of social concern, and unnecessary cultural baggage accumulated by the mainstream churches through the years.

Decline and fall

In years past, national news magazines have published holy week cover articles announcing the death of Jesus and the death of God. This year, God and Jesus survived, but Christian America died.

Church politics

“We Methodists aren’t like you Presbyterians. We don’t know the first thing about church politics,” said Maxie Dunham, then president of Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky.

From palms to passion to …

Do you think Jesus enjoyed his triumphal entry? Did he enjoy the adulation in those crowded streets in the way a young preacher enjoys affirmations in the post-worship narthex? 

Greener grass?

Congratulations go to Wabash Presbytery. It has graciously dismissed three churches to the Midwest Presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Cutting through the FOG

So, after three years of talking about the new Form of Government Task Force project, the Outlook has finally succumbed to the temptation to put fog on the cover. Our self-restraint grew faint. Ah, well...

Conversations

It’s amazing, isn’t it, how much our lives have been shaped by conversations — from those first listening-only conversations with doting parents to the pastor’s final visit at our bedside; from the teacher showing us how to draw to the police officer asking if we know how fast we were driving; from comparing Christmas gifts with neighbor kids to the domestic disagreement between spouses; from the class discussion to the flirty introductions with the eHarmony date; from the lengthy love letters to the telegraphed text messages. Conversations define our lives.

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