“And the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” Like many of you, I grew up reading tales filled with wizards, dark…

You may have heard the old saw, “If you want to understand something try and change or reform it.” It’s true. You can never understand the intricacies and power of vested interests, tradition, inertia, fear and reluctance to adapt until you take on the challenge of changing an entrenched organization or a revered practice. Most people are not suited for the work of making change. They are enthusiastic at first and then ground down by the slowness of the process and the resistance from those that are affected by the changes. I keep a card on my desk with a quote from Machiavelli: “It must be considered that there is…

You may have heard the old saw, “If you want to understand something try and change or reform it.” It’s true. You can never understand the intricacies and power of vested interests, tradition, inertia, fear and reluctance to adapt until you take on the challenge of changing an entrenched organization or a revered practice. Most people are not suited for the work of making change. They are enthusiastic at first and then ground down by the slowness of the process and the resistance from those that are affected by the changes. I keep a card on my desk with a quote from Machiavelli: “It must be considered that there is…

If you want well-written insight into the work of speechwriters and their behind-the-scenes influence, I would suggest Barton Swaim’s new book, “The Speechwriter.” Its soul-searching honesty about the conflicts, challenges and moments of both praise and despair are good reading. Some of our finest pundits, commentators and authors have served as speechwriters. I am thinking of Michael Gerson (for George W. Bush), Peggy Noonan (for Ronald Reagan), and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. (for John F. Kennedy). Standing somewhere between press secretaries, diarists and fiction writers, they all wrestled with finding words for individuals who were often not, with some exceptions, gifted with language. For all of them the task was to…

It wasn’t just a disagreement. It was a showdown that ended in both men, once fast friends, turning away from each other for the balance of their lives. They never see each other again because of their bitter feelings over a person Paul considered to be a deserter and virtual traitor while Barnabas not only defended him but fought to give him a second chance. Who was this young man causing the permanent split between two heroes of the early church? John Mark. He has an interesting story—especially for early failures and late bloomers. His mother, Mary, was wealthy and influential. Her home was the central meeting place for the…

"The Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality has jolted many into realizing that we are no longer living in our own Promised Land but, perhaps, are headed into what Fuller Theological Seminary President Mark Labberton calls 'the exile of the evangelical church.'"