I noted last week that on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Franklin Graham suggested that President Obama might not be a Christian. Today, Rev. Graham walked that back with an apology. Here’s a bit of the report from Adelle Banks: Graham, president of the relief organization Samaritan’s Purse and the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, said he now accepts Obama’s declarations that he is a Christian. “I regret any comments I have ever made which may have cast any doubt on the personal faith of our president, Mr. Obama,” he said in a statement. “I apologize to him and to any I have offended for not better articulating my reason for…
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The Next President of the Southern Baptist Convention
Bob Smietana has an excellent profile of Rev. Fred Luter, the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention. I cannot overstate how excited I am about what’s going to happen in New Orleans in June. It has been a long time coming, and I am eager to raise my ballot for the first ever African American President of our denomination. Read the profile here.
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The Santorum Predicament
Albert Mohler has summed up the “predicament” that is Rick Santorum’s candidacy. Rick Santorum is still a long shot for the Republican nomination, but his candidacy and its coverage in the mainstream media tell us a great deal about the fate of conservative candidates and conservative convictions in the public square… You do not have to agree with the way Rick Santorum chooses to argue on all issues to recognize the central predicament he represents. Far more Americans than we would like to think agree with Maureen Dowd than with Rick Santorum. The moral convictions Santorum articulates are deeply rooted in the Christian inheritance of Western civilization, but the denial…
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President Obama’s Christianity
Cathleen Falsani has recently republished the full transcript of an hour long interview with candidate Barack Obama about his faith. The information is not new, but it is relevant to recent conversations on the topic of President Obama’s Christianity. The interview took place in 2004 when Obama was still a state senator in Illinois. It was a couple days after Obama had clinched the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat that he eventually won, and four months before he was introduced to the rest of the country in his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. The interview focuses entirely on Obama’s faith, and I think it opens a…
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What is a Christian?
Franklin Graham, Jr. scandalized the talking heads on “Morning Joe” earlier this week when he appeared on the program and suggested that President Obama might not be a “Christian” (see video below). I appreciate Rev. Graham and his bold commitment to Christ, but I think there was much in what he said that was muddled and inconsistent and that probably did very little to win folks over to his position. I for one wish that the conversation had gone differently. Having said that, one item that needed to be clarified was exactly what is meant by the term “Christian.” It was very clear that Graham and his interlocutors were operating…
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Recovering Drug Addict Finds His Way Back to Pulpit
Six years after stepping down as senior pastor of Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas, Rev. Skip Ryan is now returning as an associate pastor. His story is appeared in yesterday’s Dallas Morning News. Here’s a bit of it: Outwardly, Ryan seemed a model of success. Park Cities Presbyterian was formed in 1991 as a more conservative offshoot of Highland Park Presbyterian. Ryan was called to be the new church’s first senior minister. And in just a few years, the church had grown from 1,000 to 5,000 and had purchased the former Highland Baptist Church facilities on Oak Lawn Avenue. But inwardly, Ryan said, he felt less and less…
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A Summer Youth Camp Like No Other
Boyce College and Southern Seminary will be hosting a youth camp this summer that is unlike anything you have seen before. It is called “D3: Leadership, Worldview, Missions.” Here’s a brief description:
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Why I’m Thankful We’re Keeping Our Name
I think I may be in the minority among those of my generation in the SBC. But I breathed a sigh of relief when I read the news last night that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) would be sticking with its name. The task force appointed by SBC President Bryant Wright recommended last night that “Southern Baptist Convention” remain our legal name and that “Great Commission Baptists” be adopted as our nickname. I am fine with the nickname, but I have been mainly concerned that our official name stay the same. So I couldn’t be happier about this result.
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Better To Honor God Than To Win
You all know Jim Hamilton from his blockbuster book God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment. What you may not know is that Jim is an outstanding athlete who once played baseball for the Arkansas Razorbacks. He’s a competitor, and he loves Christ. That is why I love this personal reflection from Jim about honoring God in sports. It’s a good word for a day when some people are questioning the compatibility of sports and Christianity. Here’s a snippet, but you should really read the whole thing.
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Hunting Bambi
The inimitable Mark Coppenger on the HHS mandate: I once heard Frederica Mathewes-Green say that every child born after 1973 was a “survivor.” That was the year that Roe v. Wade declared “open season” on the contents of the womb. But it appears the license to hunt Bambi was not enough. Now the government is making sure you have a rifle. Read the rest here.