President Obama and his administration pride themselves as modern progressives. The progressive project, for 100 years and counting, has been about reshaping and redefining the very essence of American thinking. The Constitution itself has been the obvious target. Each time President Obama addresses America’s inalienable rights, I get emails. “Did you see Obama left out... Continue Reading

Oh what a patriotic tempest a small Anabaptist Indiana teapot of a college has provoked! The Goshen College Board of Directors announced today that it has asked President James E. Brenneman to find an alternative to playing the Star-Spangled Banner that fits with sports tradition, that honors country and that resonates with Goshen College’s core... Continue Reading

How exactly does the world shape us into its image? I recently asked my eight-year-old daughter a question, and she replied, “Whatever.” I asked her where she learned to respond to others’ questions in this way. Her response: “Everywhere.” As a Christian leader, I am grieved by statistics indicating that believers and non-believers live almost... Continue Reading

The church has the largest distribution network on the planet. There are more churches in the world than all the Wal-Marts, McDonald’s and Starbucks combined. The church was global 200 years before anyone else thought of globalization. We could take you to thousands of villages around the world where the only institution to speak of... Continue Reading

Tuesdays with Morrie, a 1997 book by Mitch Albom about his conversations with ALS patient Morrie Schwartz, made wisdom from our elders popular, especially if those elders are dying. There is something about dying that clarifies the mind and reveals what is especially important. My father-in-law Jack is my Morrie. He was diagnosed with untreatable... Continue Reading

In the last of his Narnia books, Lewis shows us his vision of the end. It is not an escape from creation or a flight from the past. It is instead a more “real” Narnia, of which the older Narnia was but a shadow. Life in this present Narnia comes to a close but it... Continue Reading

My pastor asked me to “fix up” the church library. It was in need of some updating, and hasn’t really even been used much lately. When my daughter, Solanna, and I first meandered in the modest space, she proclaimed her obvious reason for its abandonment: “Ooh! This place majorly needs new carpet!” Well, that’s not... Continue Reading

They remind me of VBS because there were hollyhocks growing near the outhouse of New Bethlehem Baptist Church, way out in the country near where I grew up. (If you have not had the joy of using an outhouse, particularly an outhouse at a country church with VBS going on, I would love to talk... Continue Reading

So why does a journalism organization like the World Journalism Institute which equips journalists who are Christian to enter the mainstream newsrooms celebrate the life and example of Samuel Eli Cornish by naming a lecture series after him? Samuel Cornish was born in Delaware (Sussex County) in l795 to a family of Black Americans. In... Continue Reading

After 34 years in the same building, WORLD magazine is this month moving its offices. We’ve grown, it seems, to the point where we need something a little smaller. “Hold on!,” I hear someone object. “Didn’t you tell us just a couple of issues back that WORLD is this year celebrating its 25th anniversary? And... Continue Reading