Kyle Childress
Answerizing
Some years ago, a small group in our church watched the award-winning documentary The Fog of War, in which former secretary of defense Robert McNamara talks about his life, especially the Vietnam War.
Sunday, November 7, 2010: Luke 20:27-38
Years ago, the brilliant but cantankerous Baptist preacher Carlyle Marney was speaking to some students at a Christian college. When a student asked, "Dr....
Oversized expectations: A small congregation gets megachurched
They were visitors in our worship service and, like all visitors in a small church, they were not hard to spot....
Pep-rally protest: Constructive nonconformity
One day in the early 1990s when the news was filled with the story of the Menendez brothers, my wife, Jane, was driving with our three-year-old daughter, Callie....
Creation conversation
Dear Ed: Thank you for your book addressed to a “Southern Baptist pastor.” As a Baptist pastor on the western edge of the South (and...
It's about God: Isaiah 6:1-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11
Last fall a friend of mine attended a lecture at the University of Mississippi delivered by Stanley Hauerwas. His talk was followed by an invigorating, hour-long question-and-answer dialogue. My friend reported that afterward he and some students, another minister and several laypeople went to someone’s house and talked about God for another hour or so. How novel.
Rest assured: Jeremiah 17:5-10; Psalm 1; Luke 6:17-26
In Wendell Berry’s novel Jayber Crow, the main character works to come to terms with who he is....
Expect a call: Jeremiah 1:4-10; Luke 4:21-30
When I run across texts like these from Jeremiah and Luke, I’m always asking, “What kind of community does it take to raise prophets like Jeremiah and even Jesus?” Being a Baptist, I have few doubts about God calling prophets, preachers, missionaries and everyday Christians. The call of God tends to be very personal, but it is not private and does not come in a vacuum.
Good work: Learning about ministry from Wendell Berry
Recently I celebrated 15 years as pastor of a congregation in East Texas of under 200 members with about half of them present for Sunday worship....
Company of friends: Six pastors make a sabbath
Ray was tired, worn down to the nub. It was the year he was turning 60, celebrating the 40th anniversary of his ordination and marking 15 years as pastor of his congregation....