All of us have seen the ads posted on the backs of semi-trailers as they blow by us on the interstate. The ads, in one form or another, declare that the trucking company needs good drivers and is willing to pay well for each one it can find. Apparently, such drivers are valuable!

Can you imagine what the company means by "good driver?" I'll hazard a guess. No doubt they expect a driver to keep t ...

Recently, leaders from Baptist conventions and fellowships numbering some 20 million members announced a new, cooperative initative. Participants include the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the National Baptist Convention, the Progressive Baptist Convention, American Baptist Churches USA plus several other bodies. A gathering of interested Baptists has been scheduled for January 30-February 1, 2008 at the World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. If all goes as ...

Last night's bowl game between Florida and Ohio State determined the "mythical" national championship of college football. Ohio State entered the game as the runaway favorite. Most commentators thought Florida's only chance to win rested with their defense. If the game could be kept low-scoring, Florida might steal a victory.

As it turned out, both Florida's defense and offense arrived ready to ...

Jim Wallis once gave a baccalaureate address at Standford University. In the course of his speech, he said, "I now believe that the real battle, the big struggle of our times, is the fundamental choice between cynicism and hope. The choice between cynicism and hope is ultimately a spiritual choice..."

Wallis got it right.

Cynicism, it see ...

Historically, Baptists have prided themselves on being "People of the Book." By this we've usually meant to imply that we read the Bible, derive our beliefs from the Bible, and attempt to order our lives accordingly. I applaud the goal. It says something good about how seriously we hope to take the Bible. I am concerned, though, about the quality of our performance.

For example, how many of us a ...

Recently a friend of mine produced a blog entry asking what the church might look like fifty years from now. His excellent piece jogged my thinking a bit, and I want to try and bring some order to the results.

Let's start with a dose of reality: no one (least of all me!) can hope to predict accurately the look or shape of church life half a century from now. That's true even if we limit ourselves ...

"Come, Lord Jesus."

Early Christians prayed these words often, and their spiritual descendents have continued to do so through the centures and in the present day. The prayer is particularly apt during the season of Advent, the time in which we attempt to prepare hearts and minds to celebrate the past, present and future Christ.

We prepar ...

There's nothing like an annual state convention meeting to stir up Baptists! The Tennessee Baptist Convention met in annual session in Memphis, Tennessee. Insofar as I can discern, the messengers spent most of the time debating and settling a handful of matters.

They voted to affirm belief in the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, effectively declaring it to be the required creed for any who wish to p ...

As N.T. Wright puts it, "temptation always takes as its starting point something which is in itself good." To put it another way, temptation takes some part of what God has made (and what God makes is good) and attempts to bend it in an ungodly direction.

Examples abound. God built rest and recreation into his plan for creation, but we tend to take the gift and convert it into self-indulgence. W ...

It's the time of year when all kinds of lists are released to the public. Today's fare includes a list of the safest cities in the United States. Hundreds of cities are ranked in order of the safest to the least safe, supposdly on the basis of FBI data. Murfreesboro ranked #166, coming in as the safest city in Tennessee.

No doubt, chambers of commerce all around the nation are scrambling to celebrate or ...