“I am deeply concerned about the impact the Supreme Court’s ruling might have on faith-based or other educational institutions—including schools from grades K-12, colleges, universities, theological seminaries and graduate schools—that hold to natural or conjugal marriage, which has only come into question within the past decade.”   As I stood before more than seven hundred... Continue Reading

“There was a “cocktail of elements” behind the trend, which is underpinned by a “tremendous amount of prayer”. The elements include a “yearning for something different” arising from violence within the Muslim world; the power of the internet; and the translation of the gospel and missionary materials (including videos) into the “heart languages” of Muslim... Continue Reading

“The narrative is repeated as a cautionary tale. It says that if institutions change, they are bound to die. For evidence, it looks to institutions that have failed, then points out how they changed. Implicitly, it draws a lesson for the remaining institutions: “If you change, you’ll die, too.”   I don’t know Pastor Travis... Continue Reading

“In the book of First Kings, Elijah faced a wave of persecution and mortal danger beyond anything any American has faced on American soil. He felt alone — terrified that all was coming to an end. He declared to God, “I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”... Continue Reading

“It could be argued that Baptists have been here before: placed outside the bounds of what a the majority considers respectable – or even acceptable – by the legally enshrined predominant collective conventions and social mores of contemporary society.”   A committed evangelical, today I write out of and to my narrower ecclesiastical tradition (Baptist) as I address the... Continue Reading

“Throughout history, racial ideologies have been driving forces of war, of social cohesion, of demagoguery, and of dictatorships. Race theory was central to the Nazi regime and was used by both sides in the Pacific theater of World War II. In that theater of the war, both the Japanese and the Americans claimed that the... Continue Reading

“God often creates a sense of unease in people, which then leads them to a consciousness of sin, and then a deeper sense that they are guilty before God. Then He brings them beyond mere “feelings” of guilt to confess, “I am guilty before God.” As the psalmist says, “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,... Continue Reading

“As inefficient as it may seem to us, God the Spirit has left to the office of preacher the ministry of announcing the good news and it through that act, announcing the incarnation, obedience, righteousness, death, resurrection, ascension, and return of Christ that he has promised to bring all of his elect to new life,... Continue Reading

“Read it for its own sake. Read it receptively. Read it the way you would listen to a friend tell you a story. You listen because you want to hear, not because you think what he says is going to change your life, or teach you something you didn’t know before.”   I can hear... Continue Reading

“One of the most important biblical-theological matters with which we must wrestle is that of how we are to harmonize the Old Testament teaching about “everlasting” ordinances with the teaching of the apostles as to the abrogation of the command to circumcise (1 Cor. 7:19; Gal. 5:6, 11; and 6:15), the cessation of the Old... Continue Reading