In a few days America and the world will be observing the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our country which occurred September 11, 2001. Already the media is focusing our attention on the tragic events of that day when planes were hijacked, flown into the world trade center and the Pentagon and almost […]

Mobs, riots, chaos, government repression. What is going on in the Muslim Middle East and North Africa? Other parts of the world have witnessed political upheaval in the last decade. Ethnic violence has become a common occurrence in many parts of the world. Banana republic dictators are still alive and well in Latin America. But […]

Today is “Tujuhbelas Agustus”–that’s the 17th of August in Indonesian, the day of independence for this country with the largest Muslim population in the world. This day also comes in the middle of “Ramadan” which is the month of fasting for Muslims. It is one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith. The faithful […]

Most households struggle to make ends meet, especially those growing families with educational bills and mortgages to pay beyond routine living expenses. It is too easy to let credit card balances grow and find oneself being sucked into the quicksand of interest payments and growing indebtedness. Educational institutions, churches, denominational entities and other organizations face […]

Our national government has apparently avoided the catastrophe of financial default, but no one is happy. Seldom have we seen such a shameful lack of statesmanship in dealing with a self-imposed problem. Actually, there was no immediate satisfactory solution to a debt crisis that has been building, even beyond recently imposed aberrant policies. For generations […]

It seems that more and more organizations, and even churches, are changing their names. Recognizing that our society is constantly changing, it is understandable that public institutions would be concerned about rebranding and portraying an image that would be considered relevant. I am seeking to reflect a commentary and opinion on current topics in this […]

This may seem to be a strange topic for someone 69 years old who has served the Lord all his life. However, this is one of the surprising challenges of a new retirement lifestyle. It is not that I have not been a member of a church since trusting the Lord and being baptized almost […]

A lot has been said and written in the last few years about the beginning of a decline in membership of the Southern Baptist Convention. The number of baptisms being reported has been in a free-fall for several decades. A large portion of annual baptisms reflect biological growth of children raised in the church or […]

It happened again. The 4th of July came and went with us out of the country. That has happened more times than not throughout our adult life. That is not only due to being on the mission field for 23 years, but in the years since, summer always seemed to be the time for mission […]

Returning to places of ministry in Southeast Asia have brought to mind the nagging sense of failure with which I left each place of responsibility. Okay, “failure” may be too strong a term; however, when God moved us to new responsibilities and places of service we followed in obedience, but always with a sense we […]