I had been youth minister at the church I served in the eighties about six months when the couple that taught twelfth grade Sunday School let me know – actually, they told the pastor – they were leaving the church. Because of me. He was a professor of youth ministry at the seminary and was…

Thanks to the folks at DirecTV, we have XM Radio in our house. Thanks to XM Radio, we have a channel called “The Village” that is all acoustic singer-songwriters. I play it when Ginger isn’t home, just as she listens to the disco station when she is alone in her car. When she came in…

Christine’s blog at Abbey of the Arts has been one I’ve visited regularly for about as long as I have been reading blogs. A couple of weeks ago, she offered me to take part in one of her “sacred artists interviews” that she does from time to time. She posted it yesterday. Here’s the first…

It would be interesting to trace the transformation in American society that broke the link between popular religion and high intellectual achievement, between religious enthusiasm and generous and transformative change. In my experience, many of the schools in the old abolitionist archipelago are entirely forgetful of their history, or are embarrassed by the little they…

We stepped back into the history of our church today for our annual worship service at O’Kelly Chapel, the birthplace of our congregation (as explained by this plaque): We had an amazing cool, sunny spring day for our gathering, which included dinner on the grounds following worship. We used the old hymnals, which meant we…

A few weeks back I was on my way home from work when Ginger called to say the main sewer line running from the house to the street was blocked and she had called a plumber, but he had not yet arrived; if I needed to go to the bathroom I should stop somewhere on…

“Baptists don’t baptize infants,” I heard some say not long ago, “they ordain them.” In the spring of 1977, in the summer after my junior year in college, I was called as pastor of Pecan Grove Baptist Church near Gatesville, Texas, which meant I needed to be ordained. In early June, an ordination council was…

A little over a month ago, my friend Billy sent me a link to a talk given by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist, who spoke at the TED Conference, which I had never heard of before but evidently involves a whole bunch of really smart people. The folks at TED want to get good…

Crash Davis couldn’t do anything but play baseball.With a name like that, what else could he do?Quick – name all the baseball players you knownamed Milton. (You get my point, I’m sure.) Twenty years after Crash and company graced thesilver screen, I stood on the deck above the first basegrandstand in the house that the…

I love live music. I love being in the room for those one of a kind moments that can’t be replicated. I saw Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, and Buddy Miller a few summers ago on their “Sweet Harmony Musical Revue” tour. The evening was full of amazing things, but the hallmark…