• Christianity,  Culture

    Ken Starr Begins at Baylor

    The New York Times reports on Ken Starr’s forthcoming tenure as the president of Baylor University. Starr begins on June 1. Here’s a snippet from the report: “Baylor’s growth into a large research university is now irreversible, but its Christian character remains unsettled. Dr. Sloan recruited several prominent evangelicals, and was known to reject potential hires for not being able to articulate how faith had influenced their academic lives. Even so, the faculty is perceived to be more liberal in its Christianity than many Texas Baptists, including Baylor’s alumni. “Despite his notorious prosecutorial history, Mr. Starr may be the Christian conciliator Baylor needs. In his faith life, he has tacked…

  • Christianity

    Congratulations, Boyce Class of 2010!

    Today we celebrated the commencement of the 2010 graduates of Boyce College. You can watch my charge to the graduates above, or you can listen to it below. If you are interested in the manuscript of my address, you can download it here. Dr. Mohler’s address is here. [audio:http://www.sbts.edu/media/audio/spring2010/20100506-boyce-grad-burk.mp3] Congratulations, Boyce College class of 2010!

  • Christianity,  Politics

    Speaking of Franklin Graham

    Albert Mohler sees the bigger picture in Franklin Graham’s disinvitation from praying at the Pentagon. Mohler asks the salient question: “Who Will Be Tested Next? — The Dilemma of Franklin Graham.” Mohler writes, “Evangelical Christians in the United States had better see a big challenge staring us in the face. Franklin Graham was disinvited by the Pentagon for making statements that are required by faithfulness to the gospel of Christ. As reports make clear, it is not just his statements about Islam being prone to violence that cause offense, it is his statements that Islam is wicked because it does not lead to salvation in Christ that cause the greatest…

  • Christianity,  Politics

    Jon Meacham vs. Franklin Graham

    Newsweek has a fascinating conversation between Jon Meacham and Franklin Graham about Graham’s disinvitation from the “National Day of Prayer” ceremony at the Pentagon. To me what was most interesting was Meacham’s open animus towards Franklin’s position—an odd posture for a journalist. Meacham simply tells Franklin that he is offended by the public expression of Franklin’s views on Islam.

  • Christianity,  News

    Thanking the God of Fortuitous Moments

    In the days after the 9-11 attacks, I remember thinking, “This could be our new normal.” I wasn’t alone in this. Everyone expected that terrorists would eventually mount another successful effort and strike again. In the early days after 9-11, it was inconceivable to think that we wouldn’t be hit again by a terrorist attack on the homeland. Nearly ten years later, however, we still haven’t had another major terrorist attack. All of that could change tomorrow, but it is nevertheless remarkable that we still haven’t been hit. Instead what we have seen is a series of failed attempts to attack the homeland. From the shoe-bomber to the Christmas day…

  • Christianity,  Music

    This Means War

    I just heard the news that the Christian rock band Petra is getting back together for a reunion tour. This is beyond belief, but I say more power to them. Greg Volz not John Schlitt will be lead singer. For those of you who can’t remember or haven’t heard of Petra, you can check them out below. You will see that, for some unexplained reason, tortured and confused teenager dude was a running motif in their videos from the late 80’s.

  • Christianity

    GCR Report Online Now

    You can download the report from the SBC’s Great Commission Task Force here: www.pray4gcr.com. The video above is an introduction to the GCR effort that you can show to your church. Chairman Ronnie Floyd presents the full report in the video below.

  • Christianity,  Politics

    Russell Moore on the Gulf Oil Spill

    For a great perspective on all things ecological, see Russell Moore’s “The Gulf of Mexico and the Care of Creation.” He writes: ‘Some conservatives, and some conservative evangelicals, act as though “environmentalism” is by definition “liberal” or even just downright silly… ‘There’s nothing conservative though, and nothing “evangelical,” about dismissing the conservation of the natural environment. And the accelerating Gulf crisis reminds us something of what’s at stake… ‘We need the creation around us, including the waters and all they contain, because we are not gods. We are creatures who thrive when we live as we were made to live. We exercise dominion over the creation not only when we…