I hate stereotypes. The reason I kept big snakes in my office at the seminary for about eight years was to break the stereotype that I heard as a young minister that any well educated minister who was as boring as watching paint dry would make a good teacher at the seminary. The formula of education + boring person = seminary professor was not a stereotype I have ever wanted to emulate. I am grateful I did not have to … →

‘Cause I know there’s got to be another level Somewhere closer to the other side And I’m feeling like it’s now or never Can I break the spell of the typical If you recognize this chorus then you get the heading to this post.  It is from the song “Typical” by Mute Math, a group my son and other guys in the band that travel with me turned me on to this year.  A remarkable cast of musicians whose lyrics … →

Once upon a time, long ago, one could be a poet, an artist, and a preacher of the Word.  You know, like Luther’s day.  He was a theologian and not a bad song writer (read the words to A Mighty Fortress Is Our God lately?).  Isaac Watts, John and Charles Wesley, and many others both preached the Word and wrote about it in songs we sing to this day. I recently saw the place where David Garrick, the great actor … →

I love being a Southern Baptist. As the saying goes, I am Southern Baptist born and Southern Baptist bred, and when I die I’ll be Southern Baptist dead. But God got to me before the Baptists J. Jesus changed my life as a young man, and I have still never recovered. But I am yet a Southern Baptist by conviction. I am a debtor. Southern Baptists showed me the gospel. They taught me the Word. I have been educated in … →