I sat down with WSYR Channel 9 here in Syracuse, NY to give some reflection upon the horrible shooting in Sutherland Springs, TX at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. It’s not often we pastors and ministers have a chance to speak into national news stories.
I was very thankful that WSYR wanted to seek out a minister to provide some spiritual and pastoral insight. Click below to watch the video interview: Continue Reading…
“Millennials? They live at home with their parents!”
“When I was their age, I had a job, spouse, and a car!”
“Young people today… these Millennials are just lazy.”
Those are comments I have heard in coffee shops, restaurants, and surprisingly in churches. Many of the people making such comments are Baby Boomers, who are known for experiencing historical gains in post-war job growth and increased standard of living. Frankly, it is disturbing for me as a young adult to hear such comments. As a younger Generation Xer or older Millennial pastor (depending on how you measure the generations) it is extremely vexing to hear negative comments about young people.
It’s not something I’m bragging about, but this is surprising. In response to my Times Union blog post on why church gun giveaways do not send a postive message, Breitbart.com sited my blog post.
The headline reads, “Pastor Quotes Daily Kos, Apostle Paul Against AR-15 Giveaway”: Continue Reading…
A local church in Troy, NY is promoting a gun giveaway and its not the first church to do so. Churches in Texas and Kentucky have offered gun giveaways.
The practice of a church gun giveaway sends the wrong message. Is it wrong because it is illegal to own a gun? No. Is it wrong because it is immoral to own a gun? No.
The apostle Paul once wrote to the church in Corinth,
All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.
It may be lawful for a church to have a AR-15 gun giveaway, but it is not profitable to Christianity. To some, having more guns means more safety. However, studies show no strong empirical evidence to support this. For instance, in the only peer review published study on gun related deaths, the Annals of Emergency Medicine reported:
“…on a case-controlled study in which household were matched on a number of demographic factors, and then incidences of gun violence were compared. They found that people who keep a gun in their home are almost twice as likely to die in a gun-related homicide.”
In 2004, American Journal of Epidemiology published a study that found:
UPDATE: If you missed the discussion, you can see it its entirety here.
I’ll be a guest on HuffPost Live talking about Jason Collins, faith, and sports today.
HuffPost Live’s segment is billed as
Jason Collins is 34, black, and gay—and religious. Collins’ coming out presents an intersection of LGBT rights, religious freedom, and professional sports. What role does faith play for athletes and what it means to be gay in the NBA?
Some have suggested that because Collins identifies as a Christian he cannot be a Christian because he is gay.
Join in on the chat, watch the live interview, and comment. Everything starts today, Thursday at 2:30 EST.
Tony looks pretty “hip” here.
2010 Come Alive and Thrive PDF
Session 1, 2: May 21, 2010 Session 3: May 22, 2010. First Church Albany, NY
Tony Campolo was a professor at Eastern University (it was a college when I matriculated) when I was a student and I attended many of lectures and talks. He taught in my sociology class the final year of full time service to the college. That year, he retired from teaching full time and became a professor emeritus at Eastern. From time to time, I would bump into him walking on campus, in the gym playing basketball (with his grandson), at the seminary, or in the hallways and he would always entertain a little conversation with me.
Tony was the reason why I went to Eastern. I heard him speak at a District of Columbia Baptist Convention meeting in November of 1995 and said to myself, “I want to be at the school he teaches!” After talking with him after the meeting, he encouraged me to come to Eastern. (James Dunn made a similar proposal that night for Wake Forest University, but I turned him down. Sorry James.)
You can anticipate hearing his unique perspective on what the church may look like in the coming decade and how it can address issues of the modern world while remaining faithful to core values and beliefs. How can the church remain relevant, energized, pro-active and connected? How can the church thrive and be significant in an ecumenical and diverse world?
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