“Cokesbury has been serving for more than 200 years, and during that time has continuously adapted to the changing landscape affecting congregations and their leaders…. A shift toward all things digital and the convenience of placing orders at any time is the reality of Cokesbury today….”   The United Methodist Publishing House is closing all... Continue Reading

Kimberly Alden Grimsley Smith, 39, went to God on November 8, 2012. Present with her at the time of death were her husband, Calvin, her mother, Jeneane Grimsley, and her in-laws, Death is not beautiful. It is ugly, totally unnatural. But, as Kim drew near to death the minister with her assured her she was... Continue Reading

The range of opinions of the recent election run from despair to hope, from self-assessment to corporate changes, from realignment to prayer, from resignation to engagement. Perhaps after more time has passed these and other assessments will change but for now here is what is being said.     Rick Phillips: Five Christian Responses to... Continue Reading

Is this the religion of “The Coming Pagan Utopia”? How vigilant the Church must be, in order to avoid complicity in this infiltration! We must “MindUP” with the mind of Christ, as revealed in his Word, in order to speak the Gospel with absolute clarity—for the glory of Jesus and for the saving of souls... Continue Reading

We also need mental/spiritual rest. God is the primary source of that rest. The author of our Christmas song, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, knew this. This anonymous author does not use the comma after “Ye” but after “Merry.” “Merry” is not an adjective for “Gentlemen” but the result of what God “resting” us. In... Continue Reading

Being a pastor is more than preaching sermons and designing programs. It’s knowing that you need community, that you’ve been called to lead the community of love that is the church. That teenager attracted to the world needs God’s love. That single person facing the death of personal dreams needs God’s love. That immigrant brother... Continue Reading

Far greater is the danger, having made that sort of commitment, he will find expression for his deepest beliefs and affiliations shut down. The latest example: Tufts University in Massachusetts, where in October students voted to “de-recognize” Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF), the largest evangelical group on the 10,000-student campus and an affiliate of one of... Continue Reading

The compromise on offer, as with female priests, is to allow opponents to carry on with their parish life as if there were no female bishops – they can demand to be served only by men, and more particularly, only by men who will not themselves ordain women.     This autumn sees a decisive... Continue Reading

Moore was elected chief justice in 2000, but a state judicial panel removed him three years later after he refused to obey a federal judge’s order to remove a 5,200-pound granite Ten Commandments monument from the lobby of the Alabama Judicial Building. Moore still maintains the federal judge’s order was unlawful and that he should... Continue Reading

While his predecessors have drawn on long and distinguished careers as academics or clerics, his experience is of the world of mammon as much as God. A former oil executive he gave up a highly paid career after feeling a “call” to the priesthood in the late 1980s…. Theologically, he is unashamedly part of the... Continue Reading