“I also think, ten years later, the younger members of our tribe seem less restless than we did when we started. For all the flack the millennials take in the wider culture, the millennials I meet in the gospel-centered tribe seem more mature, more settled.”   I never set out to “join a movement.” I... Continue Reading

“Ask them about church finances and seek documentation. A financial crisis can devastate your ministry, yet it is one of those topics we tend not to think about when considering a pastoral position. Theology? We think of that. Methodology? Check. What happened to the last pastor? Got that. Finances don’t often rank as a vital... Continue Reading

“This complicated history of minority and white relations in the U.S. could make it awkward for those within the white majority when they humbly submit to minority leadership in sacred spaces, voluntarily sacrifice their majority status, and serve in sacred spaces under minority leadership in minority contexts. Their willingness to do so is a beautiful,... Continue Reading

We have become convinced that this decision was a mistake. We apologize for this and for any concern this has caused for readers of the ESV, and we want to explain what we now believe to be the way forward. Our desire, above all, is to do what is right before the Lord.   In... Continue Reading

I don’t know why this is true, but it’s often easier for a team of people to adapt to a bold idea and make it better than it is for a team to come up with a bold idea. This isn’t always the case, but in many instances, I think it is. I dream in... Continue Reading

When private persons, who have not been authorized by Christ nor ordained by his church, take upon themselves the prerogative of administering Christ’s sacraments, they are usurpers. However well-intentioned they may be, they are doing what does not belong to them. The sacraments were to be administered by the true, visible, institutional church. The great... Continue Reading

But when anyone preaches from the pulpit that individuals with homosexual desires are “born that way through no fault of their own,” then this is clearly and willfully redefining this biblical teaching. Homosexual character and desires are, like all sin, brought into effect by our sinful desires, passions and lusts; it is one of the... Continue Reading

Carl Ellis: On one hand, ‘black lives matter’ (all lower case, ‘blm’) is a truth. This truth encompasses the healthy concern for matters that touch black lives—criminal justice reform, racial justice, just policing, better community relations, crime reduction, urban homicide rates, discipleship, mass incarceration, abortion rates, poverty reduction, education, employment, ethnic reconciliation, accurate representation of our history,... Continue Reading

Shouldn’t people have that same reverential attitude when they show up at church to meet God, some ask? After all, doesn’t your dress reveal the importance you attach to an occasion? That sentiment, however, is seen as hopelessly old school in many popular megachurches across America. Casual Fridays has morphed into casual Sundays. And many... Continue Reading

Manly declared that, when it came to his right to buy and to sell African Americans, “I had no more doubt or compunction than in pocketing the price of a horse or anything else that belonged to me.”   The founders of the Southern Baptist Convention and of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary were zealous... Continue Reading