I saw in the newspaper this morning another signpost… “for those who have ears to hear.” The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, has found that more than one-quarter of Americans age 18 to 29 have no religious preference or affiliation, and fewer than one in five attend services regularly. That makes them easily the least religious generation alive today, perhaps the least religious ever...

  I am so looking forward to this Friday. This Friday will be my first day with no church activities in 19 days. I’m ready for it. For the last two weeks I feel like I’ve been running from one major event to another. It will be nice to have a day of rest. Not only have I been working a lot these pass two weeks but I have also been sick. A few people have pointed out the connection with being sin and run down. I guess I might be a little of both.

“God formed man from the dust of the ground,” Genesis tells us. But don’t stop there! The remainder of the text speaks to the nature of humanity. “God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being.” (Gen. 2:7)

The 40 Days of Lent began yesterday on Ash Wednesday for millions of Christians all over the world.  I imposed ashes upon the foreheads of my flock last night in a meaningful and humbling service to mark the beginning of Lent. These next six weeks are a season for looking inward at ourselves and outward at Christ. It’s all about letting of things that are destructive and sinful and embracing the way of Jesus.

I’ve often thought that we Baptists are “liturgically challenged” when it comes to appreciating the great themes of the Church Year. But I take in heart in the coming of Ash Wednesday because it is supposed to be an awkward experience of somber reflection and repentance, a time of being starkly reminded that these bodies we inhabit will indeed turn back...

It’s official now. Hell has frozen over. The New Orleans Saints are Super Bowl Champions! Growing up in central Mississippi, I was five years old when the New Orleans Saints franchise played its first game. The Saints became a regional NFL team for those of us in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama with no other professional sports teams to cheer for.

It wasn’t until 1979 that under the leadership of a quarterback named Archie Manning the Saints had their first “non-losing season” with a record of 8-8. Later came those infamous bags and the nickname the “Aints.” Then in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina having an NFL football team in New Orleans at all was the looming question.

People said for years that hell would freeze over before the Saints ever got to the Super Bowl—much less win the Super Bowl. However, as of Sunday night, ice skates are now being issued at the...

I have some amazing friends. Until this week I hadn’t put together just how amazing some of my friends are. I’m thinking about three of my friends in particular. I have plenty of amazing friends but for the purpose of this blog, I’ll limit it to three friends I graduated with. I want to introduce you to them now.

We’re beginning a new worship experience at FBC this Sunday (Super Bowl Sunday) and we are excited about it! We’re calling it “Fresh Start.” Why? Well, because it starts early—at 9:00 a.m.—and we hope it will be a fresh encounter with God for people who may be unchurched, de-churched, or churched-yet-stuck-in-a-rut.

This has been a slow, deliberate process for us. We have chosen not to jump on some alternative/contemporary worship bandwagon. This is an additional worship service—not an alternative one. The worship we do at First Baptist is probably best described as traditional, somewhat liturgical, and reverent. I like it. Yet in these times we are being beckoned by Jesus to fish for people in deeper, uncharted waters.

Worship is not a consumeristic enterprise where we shop around until we find a place that meets all our felt needs. Worship is about God, not us. Worship happens...