Lord of nickels, noses and numbers
DALLAS (BP)--Southern Baptists have a love/hate relationship with statistics. On one hand, it is one imperfect way we have of evaluating ourselves. How are we doing as churches, individually and in cooperation? Part of that story is expressed in the measure of people and money.
FIRST-PERSON: Decision time
DALLAS (BP)--Can there be any doubt that Southern Baptists have come to a crossroads in support for our cooperative ministries? Without a change in our attitude toward missions, the Southern Baptist Convention will be diminished in ways none of us will find to be an improvement.
FIRST-PERSON: Is this the New Orleans we want back?
DALLAS (BP)--We all love the plucky people, the underdogs who fight back against impossible odds. Maybe that’s why otherwise sane people are heralding the return of Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
FIRST PERSON: TV special shows counterfeit love’s emptiness
DALLAS (BP)--It was at least my third hearing of something hard to believe. Katie Couric’s recent NBC special on students and sex suggested that the incredibly disturbing is now commonplace in many of our schools.
FIRST PERSON: Who should vote?
DALLAS (BP)--The political doctrine of my childhood was summed up in two statements: “Anyone can become president” and “Every American should vote.” I don’t think I’ve believed the first statement since my voice changed but I’ve more recently come to doubt the second just as much. Maybe the reasons we vote have become less idealistic.
FIRST-PERSON: Teaching our children
DALLAS (BP)--Training our children is one of our most important tasks. The lives we impact through our ministries and careers are a legacy of those who taught us; the impact of our children's lives will be part of our own legacy.
FIRST-PERSON: The demand of justice
DALLAS (BP)--When Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan commuted the death sentences of all 156 inmates on his state's death row, he reopened the debate about capital punishment in America. The apparently thoughtless way he opened the discussion was a grandstand play. It worked; Mr. Ryan got some headlines and resurrected hundreds of opinions among writers and professional spokesmen.
FIRST-PERSON: Many sons had father Abraham
DALLAS (BP)--A recent Time magazine cover story featured the patriarch Abraham as a common touchstone of three major world religions, Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
FIRST-PERSON: Americans need to be vigilant against a Taliban-like tyranny
DALLAS (BP)--A lot has been said about the changes in our nation since Sept. 11. It is a common topic because we note it in so many ways each day. The changes are as pervasive as salt in water, affecting the smallest and farthest parts of our culture. Movie releases have been indefinitely delayed; the Emmys were canceled; sporting events were disrupted. Transportation has become less convenient and more serious. Road rage is, at least temporarily, less common. Some jokes are now taboo in a society that once bragged about its irreverence. Comedians known for their sarcasm or cynicism wave the flag alongside the former victims of their wit.
