A revival pattern in America
I teach full-time at a Christian university in the Southeast. I speak frequently at other schools, as well as events geared toward collegians and other young adults. My wife and I serve in the college ministry in our local church. I’m the father of four children, three of whom are between the ages of 14 […]
Socially conservative superheroes
As a fan of superhero movies, I awaited July 2025 with eager anticipation. Two major films were scheduled for release just a couple weeks apart. On July 11, DC Studios released Superman, directed by James Gunn. This was followed on July 25, with the Marvel Studios film The Fantastic Four: First Steps, directed by Matt Shakman. Both […]
Advertising traditional family values
In recent years, Madison Avenue has mostly walked in lockstep with the progressive agenda to reinvent the American family. Consider the following commercials over the past decade or so: A same-sex couple joins the rest of the extended family around the table during a holiday. Two men discuss the joys of raising their toddler daughter […]
Aspirational Conservatism for the Common Good: A Review of John Wilsey’s Religious Freedom: A Conservative Primer
Labels are fluid, taking on different meanings in different contexts. The label conservative is a good example. Consider politics, for example. The principles and priorities of a politically conservative American don’t perfectly map on to those of a politically conservative Brit, conservative German, or even conservative Canadian. There is an even bigger gap between an […]
Playing the Long Game
It wasn’t that long ago that social conservatives were understandably concerned that transgenderism was on the road to full normalization and perhaps even coerced celebration throughout American society. But the tide has been turning for a couple of years. The two major battles in this particular front in the culture war have been biological men […]
Confessional fidelity and denominational faithfulness
This summer, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is celebrating the centennial of the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M), the denomination’s confessional statement. When the SBC was formed in 1845, the Convention didn’t adopt a confession of faith. This was not because most Southern Baptists rejected confessions. In fact, all 293 of the delegates, as they […]
Outlawing pornography for the common good
Pornography is nothing new. Archaeologists have found evidence that the vice is nearly as old as recorded human history. But the internet has raised the stakes considerably. Long gone are the days when pornography was mostly limited to seedy theatres in red-light districts, the back room of video rental stores, and salacious magazines sold in […]
Southern Baptists and Racial Reconciliation: Reflections on the Anniversary of a Milestone Resolution
When Southern Baptists gather in Dallas for our Annual Meeting next month, we will celebrate the centennial of two decisions that transformed our Convention. At our 1925 Annual Meeting in Memphis, Southern Baptists adopted the first edition of the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M), our confessional standard, and launched the Cooperative Program (CP), our unified […]
A Church Without A Mission
The Presbyterian Church (USA) is shuttering its foreign mission work. Nearly all its missionaries have been terminated. The stated reasons for this move include a drop in the missionary force over the past 15 years and the financial repercussions of ongoing membership decline. It is undoubtedly true that membership losses and financial struggles played a crucial role […]
Faithfully Navigating the Communication Superbloom
Over the past eight years, I’ve read numerous books and articles about the way that screens and the social internet have changed us. My gateway into this literature was Jean Twenge’s iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood—and What That Means for the Rest […]