Blog

A descriptive word that emerges to describe Jesus’ prayer life from a study of Luke’s gospel is “intentional.” Jesus may have done a lot of praying “on the fly” but Luke portrays a Jesus who was intentional about setting aside time to pray. He was as intentional about...

For a week in July, friends of "Baptists Today" journeyed together through Glacier National Park bringing strangers together from across the Southeast who quickly found friendships with one another.   That’s not hard to do when you share a love for God and nature. We...

People taking a stroll through my parents’ yard would see various kinds of plants, trees, and flowers they have planted over the 41 years they have owned their property. There are many varieties of daylilies, hydrangeas, azaleas, various kinds of roses, marigolds,...

I passed a man enjoying some shade under the pecan trees of our church parking lot on my way home for lunch last week. The door of his car was open and he looked to be relaxing and doing some reading. I almost walked by but then I stopped and spoke with him, as I was...

Most schools just finished with another academic year and have graduated another class of students.   Graduation services have been held.   Here in Jefferson, GA, two male athletes stood in the position of valedictorian and salutatorian.  Evan Shirreffs, the...

Do we ever accomplish anything in ministry alone? I don’t think so. I thought about that recently when someone asked me to name some of the things I’ve accomplished throughout my ministry. While I can name some things, nothing on my list would qualify as a solo act....

A few weeks ago Tina and I stopped in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to watch our first-ever regatta. As the sculls raced down the river toward the finish line, we listened as the coxswains called out words of instructions to the crews. The coxswain, or cox, as he or she is...

There were four staff members including our organist; another musician; choir members; acolytes; a sound and lighting person; a soloist; seven readers; those who prepared the communion table and helped serve communion; and those who changed out the colors on our...

The Andy Griffith Show, which ran from 1960 to 1968, ended as the number one show on television and it has been ranked by T.V. Guide as the ninth best show ever. One irony of this family-oriented show is that the majority of the characters are single. The main...

My paths once crossed with a guitarist who was music leader for a pastor’s conference I was attending in Tennessee. He discovered that I had once pastored Trinity Baptist Church in Moultrie, GA.   After he asked me about the music ministry there, I explained to him...

Screen door opening and closing. Ticking of Big Ben alarm clock on the mantel of grandparent’s house. Crickets in a cricket box used for fishing trips. Voice of my grandmother calling me “Sonny Boy.” Chickens clucking in the yard. Rain hitting my grandparent's tin...

Spoiler Alert (Movie Review) My wife picked out a movie not long ago and said, “I chose this movie because it has Morgan Freeman in it. All of his movies are good.” Robert Redford was the other main actor in that movie. I just smiled. I agree with my wife’s assessment...