Fortunately, we are beyond the holiday season so we can take a furlough from the “War on Christmas”…In the meantime, let us remember that Christ does not need a display of power to make the message real. My earliest memories of life and of Christmas come from the high mountains of western North Carolina. In the mid-1970s, Madison County remained unscathed from pop-up resorts that currently pepper the highland landscape. The tiny county seat of Marshall was our home until I was five, with Main Street crammed between the “Corkscrew” mountain road on one side and the French Broad River on the oth ..read more

On my way to preach Sunday morning, I passed by dozens of church buildings with a variety of shapes and sizes. What I saw surprised me—and offered a decades-long “heads up” to the institution that we call “church.” On January 15, I had the privilege of preaching for Ridgeland Drive Baptist Church in Six Mile, S.C. (Yes, we have a town called Six Mile in my home state). Services started at 10 a.m., in clear violation of all unwritten Baptist church rules and regulations. As I headed for this semi-rural congregation, I kept driving. And driving. And driving. After getting around the 13 mph wide ..read more

Pastors are not trained as counselors or psychiatrists. When they claim to have a full understanding of mental health, they are fooling themselves. And the consequences may be lethal. One of my favorite movies (and terribly underrated, IMO) is “The Big Short.” This spin about the 2008 financial crisis opens up with a terrific quote from Mark Twain. “It isn’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” When a minister is just getting started, it is a tremendous benefit to have mentors that will drill this axiom into their head. If there is on ..read more

One of my friends is fond of saying that he “does not hold tightly to brick and mortar.” I understand that, even agree with it. But living that mantra is a gut-wrenching challenge after 46 years. 406 Great Glen Road Greenville, SC 29615 This address implanted itself into my memory when I was five years old. Over the last 46 years, it never left and never wavered. No matter where our journey took us around the world, we knew the power of an anchor at the top of the hill in the Del Norte neighborhood of Greenville, SC. And no matter how challenging life was, we could return to that magnetic anc ..read more

I have this ridiculous propensity for agreeing to do things that I am not sure I can do. It’s more like a vibe of, “Of COURSE I can do that!” Until, that is, the time comes for me to do it. Then I spend the three days before the event drinking unholy amounts of coffee and asking myself, “WHY did I ever agree to this???” Friday, August 19 was no exception. How did I ever end up in charge of Freshman Move-in Day at my University? After all I am a walking, talking organizational nightmare. Who on earth thought this was a good idea? My first go at this in 2021 was mediocre at best, so I was hoping ..read more

Friends are a funny thing as we grow older. Some stay in our past, while others remain in our lives forever. And then there are those that only pop up at the most critical moments. Growing up, one of our joys in life was our parents’ decision to allow us to take a friend with us on family vacation. Throughout our middle and high school years, this was a source of incredible fun for us. And no one was more fun on vacation than Shane Bailey. Shane and I went to Eastside High School together, played football together for one year, and hung out periodically throughout our four years. Funny thing w ..read more

Football coach David Kennedy recently won his Supreme Court battle for the right to pray after games. Author and lawyer David French agrees with this decision. Here is why they—and many Christians cheering this decision—are looking at the wrong thing. We still need to think carefully about a Christian approach to public prayer. In its rash of decisions over the past few days, the Supreme Court ruled in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District that football coach David Kennedy has a Constitutional right to walk to midfield after games to lead his team in prayer. Author, Constitutional scholar, and ..read more