In this political season we are hearing a lot about flip-flopping, politicizing and pandering.  It does often seem that the candidates say one thing in one setting and spin things differently in front of a different audience. Last week President Obama came out in favor of same-sex marriage....

My family is celebrating Easter, which happens to fall on my husband’s birthday, at a condo on the beach in Top Sail Island, North Carolina.  This is the view from my balcony this morning: Last night my family played the game Apples to Apples and one of the words was the word,...

I recently heard a pastor say that the most important question a church can ask itself is, “What would it look like if God’s kingdom were to become fully manifest in our neighborhood, our city, our nation and our world?” I would add that the second most important question a church can...

In January, at the invitation of Northminster Church, my Embrace Richmond team started a new work in Richmond’s north side (specifically the neighborhoods bordering Brookland Park Boulevard from Moss Side to North Avenue.) The first phase of any new community development effort is...

This past Friday, I had the privilege of sitting under the teachings of John W. Kinney, the Dean of the Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. What an amazingly gifted preacher and teacher! Dr. Kinney shared with us that he has been meditating on how to raise...

Christmas is just not Christmas without being with my extended family.  However, going home is never easy for me.  It always carries with it the ache for those who are no longer with us.  Christmas Eve was my father-in-law’s birthday, I ache for my husband. Christmas Eve was also my...

Over on the Jesus Creed blog, Scott McKnight asks the question, “Is 1st Corinthians 15 a sketch of the full gospel or only part of it?”  Here is the heart of the passage under consideration,  1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you...

I ran across this quote in a preview of Scot McKnight’s new book The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited in a post titled Did Jesus Preach the Gospel? on the Out of Ur blog. “McKnight is concerned that we have confused “Gospel” with “Plan of...

While many of you studied the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17) in Sunday school, I did not really appreciate this story until I was in my early thirties and watched the Veggie Tales version called “Dave and the Giant Pickle.” So here is a quick refresher: Israel was at war...

With my new ipad and great tools like flipbook, I find I am spending more time reading blogs than books lately.  This week I stumbled upon several interesting but challenging posts.  Below are the highlights but I encourage you to visit the links and read the full article. These words from...

I took two books on vacation with me earlier this year and read both while lying in the sun on the deck of a cruise ship in the Caribbean, which is of course the best way to tackle books rich with theological import.  The first was Rob Bell’s controversial book, “Love Wins: A Book About...

I woke up this morning intent on spending a peaceful day at our cabin with my dog.  I was looking forward to having the time to reflect on all that has happened this past month and there is a lot to reflect upon.  Unfortunately, I made the decision to post my comments for Rachel Held Evans...