A Pastor’s Guide to Wedding Rehearsals
One of the great joys of pastoral ministry is presiding over wedding ceremonies. One of the great headaches of pastoring can be presiding over wedding rehearsals. Well, maybe you do not have to be in pastoral ministry for wedding rehearsals to cause a headache. I have been part of many weddings either as the officiant or as a member of the wedding party, and I have learned that rehearsals are stressful from both ends. They can drag on...
Interview on Artificial Intelligence with Eddy Wu
Artificial Intelligence is a hot topic. Since the turn of the century and before, people have been enamored with the idea of AI. Movies ranging from I, Robot to Terminator to A.I. demonstrate equal parts fascination and anxiety. Yet individuals are often confused as to what AI is and how we should think about it. For that reason, I am thankful to get to interview a close friend of mine: Eddy Wu. Eddy is currently a PhD student at...
“Earth’s Holocaust”: Nathaniel Hawthorne and Social Reform
Debates over the possibility of social reform have been prominent in twenty-first-century American politics. Leftists have proposed to rectify systemic racism, sexism, and sexual exclusion through the power of legislation and modern technology. The rapid-fire accusations and proposed legislative solutions have left many conservatives and moderate liberals confused and deeply alarmed. While we can certainly be concerned and promote...
Planting by Pastoring
“Do I have what it takes to be a church planter?” That question plagued me in 2016 as I began to think about planting a church in Gallatin, Tennessee. Many of the church planters I knew inside and outside of my denomination were high energy, tech savvy, and had magnetic personalities. None of those phrases describe me. But I had had an interest in church planting since I was a college student. Now the opportunity to plant a church...
John Smyth and Baptist Covenantal Theology
by Billy Champion Why do Baptists (credobaptists) disagree with Presbyterians, Methodists, Anglicans, and others (paedobaptists) about baptism? As much as we may want to conclude it is simply because we interpret passages about baptism differently, the answer is not quite so straightforward. Those passages, of course, are not insignificant, but the issue runs deeper. For credobaptists and paedobaptists alike, our interpretation of...
Teaching Bible Stories without Moralizing
One morning I read the Parable of the Mustard Seed to my four-year-old. He knows something about seeds and plants already, since he has watched the sunflower seeds he planted grow mammoth and yellow all summer. But, to ensure he has some context, I explain that a mustard seed is also very small—smaller even than a sunflower seed—yet grows into a large plant. I read the story. He sits in silence. Then his eyes widen in wonder as he...
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