When we wait, we unfurl our hands from their tight-fisted demands and curl our fingers around the hand of God.
All in Culture
How to Be Pastoral in a Rancorous Political Season
In the current election season I have felt a pressing need to address the people of God and urge them to speak and act in a way that represents Jesus.
Ask!
It’s time to stop being mad about what people aren’t doing and ask for what you need. I mean it. I’m like a broken record out here as I’m coaching people through conflict. “Just ask,” I say, over and over.
My "Why" As a Father
My “why” as a father is to live for my last name more than for my first. I sacrifice my life for my children, my children’s children, and my children’s children’s children—all for a better world.
Bursting the Bible Bubble
Our aim is to proclaim, with our words and deeds, the love that Christ has shown us and the life that we have been called to. How might we do this in our particular contexts?
Sharks, Life, and Sharing Jesus
Sometimes the shark jumps into the boat. You may be the one they call for help. Be ready to share the hope we find in Jesus.
Thinking About Lost Sheep Evangelism
Reaching the lost takes different forms. They are all important. Our task is to help everyone to come into the light of Jesus. And stay there.
Airplane Conversations
These conversations were gifts because, though strangers, we were able to connect as humans despite the vile history.
Free Black Mamas 2022
It’s that time of the year when I, along with the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, work to liberate as many Black mothers out of jail as we can for Mother’s Day.
What Did Zacchaeus Do That Jesus Liked So Much?
While we busy ourselves singing with children about this “wee little man,” we have missed a powerful ending the song never mentions.
Celebrating Black Excellence
Many of us are making history today, and it is also imperative that we celebrate and support our Black leaders. We must honor Black history by supporting and celebrating Black excellence today.
Pastoral Epistemology
I’m used to hearing epistemology used as a joke, but with all the conversations about truth, opinions versus justified beliefs, and general questions about what we know, epistemology seems suddenly and surprisingly relevant.
How to Speak Christian Correctly
Only God can bring light out of darkness, and the church cannot limit God’s work to its own projects and priorities.
More of Paul on Light and Darkness
Paul is encouraging his hearers to enter into the realm of God even while they remain in this life.
Getting Our Questions in the Right Order
Until folk see and experience the countercultural power of true Christian community and begin to ask, “What does this mean?,” they will not be asking the next question, “What shall we do?”
Darkness in the Pauline Letters
Paul offers a binary view of life: light and darkness, day and night. But the young Christians must live as befits the light.
Preaching in the Dark Without Forgetting the Light
To take the language of light and darkness, we should remember that it is biblical. In the hands of the prophets and apostles, it is full of rich significance.
A New Light Has Dawned
But into the darkness, God sends his light. It’s what he has been doing since the beginning. “Let there be light” were the first words spoken.
Christmas’s War on You
Like an insurgency amid a people we are trying to free, Christmas has decided to go to war with our ideas of Christmas. We are, I’m sad to say, fighting a war on two fronts.
Prove It
When the stakes are high, the words that come out of our mouths are our strongest witness, only trumped by our nonverbal communication. For this article, I’m going to focus on the words.