As Jackie DeShannon sang in the Bert Bacharach/Hal David hit from the 1960s, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love; it’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.” And though the song came out nearly six decades ago, its message is more relevant than ever. 

I recently received my first Social Security check. Having served in interim pastorates and freelance research, writing, and speaking in recent years means there will be no “formal retirement” or closure to ministry. In fact, I hope to continue doing all these things as the opportunities avail themselves. Yet, a wave of nostalgia has swept over my soul during this transition.

The Georgia Baptist Mission Board is encouraging all of our churches to hold a Religious Freedom Sunday in their church. This initiative is for the purpose of emphasizing the importance of religious freedom.

A man with a nagging secret could keep it no longer. He confessed to his priest that for years he had been stealing building supplies from the lumberyard where he worked. “What did you take?” his priest asked.

Much has been written and said about Dikembe Mutombo since his untimely death on Sept. 30, 2024. To me he always seemed larger than life, and although he valiantly fought a maleficent brain cancer, he succumbed to the disease at the all too early age of 58.

When I graduated from high school, I received a gift from a family in our church with the following note. “Hope you can use this throughout your whole life.” I have. Over 40 years later, I still use that gift almost weekly. The gift? The Random House College Dictionary. (I know, I’m a luddite, still using a real, hard-cover dictionary.)

Often I feel led to do or to write something that proves most appropriate and even fruitful. Recently, I came to realize how often I do things unaware that it is the result of the Holy Spirit’s leadership. I have even come to depend on His guidance in many of the things I do.

Not long ago I officiated a wedding ceremony that followed the predictable theme of faithfulness. I, groom, take you bride, to be my wedded wife. I promise to love you, comfort you, honor and keep you, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to you so long as we both shall live. Soon, the bride pledged the same loyalty to her new husband.

 Once upon a time, the renowned 18th Century English preacher George Whitfield was getting the people of Edinburgh, Scotland out of bed at 5:00 am to come hear him speak. On one occasion, a man on his way to a service was surprised when he met up with David Hume, the Scottish philosopher and skeptic.

As a Georgia woman, wife, and mother, I’m incensed by Fulton County Superior Court’s ruling last week to strike down the LIFE ACT in favor of more liberal abortion regulations in our state. It is important for everyone to understand what is at stake, and what outcome may exist as a result of this ruling.

J. Vernon McGee summarized philosophy well. He said, “All systems of philosophy lead up a blind alley.” I agree. You can spend your time and money studying this subject and find sooner or later that it is a mere waste of time.

​Recently, we traveled to South Carolina’s Lowcountry to keep our grandsons while their parents attended an all-day workshop. We enjoyed our outing and were heading home after lunch. As I traveled north on US 17, I switched to the inside lane, anticipating our left turn up ahead.

Church leaders, congregants, and pastors verbally acknowledge the need to reach young adults with phrases like “Young people just don’t come to church anymore,” “Growing up, we never missed a Sunday,” or maybe even “We have a lost generation, Lord come quickly.” Why are young adults so hard to find in our communities?

If there were no God, life would have no meaning at all. Nothing would matter. Man would have no reason to be moral or to exercise restraint in whatever he chose to do. And this describes most people in Western civilization today, unfortunately.

Years ago, a group of college students decided to form an “Apathy Club” on their campus. They advertised the meeting but unfortunately, no one showed up. The explanation was, students  were too apathetic to attend. 

Pope Francis recently dropped quite a theological bombshell at an interreligious youth gathering in Singapore by claiming that “all religions are paths to God.” He went on to explain that religions are like languages seeking to express the divine.

I heard a sermon 32 years ago that I have not forgotten. In fact, there has probably not been a year that has passed since then that I did not think about this message or at least its implications for my life. 

He was sharing his life story when I asked him, “So how did someone raised an atheist become an Anglican rector?” His answer was a simple one-word reply, “pineapple.” The conversation that followed was one of the highlights of my journey.

As a pastor, I have had people ask me how they could know for sure they were really saved. They may have heard some preacher say that one must do this or that and not do other things to be saved. This is the very thing that the Apostle Paul condemned as “works salvation.”

The Georgia Baptist Mission Board is encouraging all our churches to make sure their members are registered to vote in the general election by October 7. Citizens may go to the Georgia Secretary of …

I remember one Sunday leaving a church service and asking a close friend for feedback on my preaching. The friend said, “Maybe you’re called to teach instead of preach.”  My friend was only confirming what I knew. The sermon didn’t go well, and it was my fault.  

Launching new groups is one of the most impactful ways to cultivate a disciple-making culture within the church. As we strive to create environments where people grow together in faith, we need to think strategically about how and when new groups are formed. Group launch days provide churches with the perfect opportunity to help members not currently involved in small groups find a place to belong and grow.

Pastor Joe McKeever shared about an experience his friend Ralph Bethea had while distributing Bibles in Russia after the fall of communism. Bethea visited an older gentleman who talked of abandoning communism and returning to his mother’s faith.

What drives you to your knees in prayer? A pastor friend said, as I was listening to him describe a remarkably difficult time in his pastorate, that this event was certainly causing him to pray, and in his words, “anything that makes you pray is a good thing.” 

I was helping train the staff of Canton Georgia’s First Baptist Church at a retreat center in Peachtree City when our session was interrupted by an unknown lady with a terrified look on her face, saying, “New York City is under attack.” A passenger plane had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.