A few weeks ago I did an interview and while much of it was on philanthropy the questions ranged across a number of topics. This first question was a good one. Does religion still have a place in what some used to call “the public square”? Yes, of course. However, it will be (and should be) what we have long referred to as “civil religion” and not a particular brand of religion. It has always been a combination of commonly held beliefs, symbols and rituals that have served as a national religion with its own sacred places and ceremonies. Truthfully, we want that. The question about religion and its influence…

In 1887, four people in Denver imagined a plan for working together in new ways to make Denver a better place. They founded a small organization to benefit 10 area health and welfare agencies while raising $21,700 that first year. That idea became the first United Way and the movement has since raised and distributed billions of dollars across the world. In an an effort to improve the way the Cleveland Trust Company did business, the company’s president, Frederick H. Goff, established in Ohio in 1914 the world’s first community foundation, The Cleveland Foundation. He combined a number of trusts managed by the bank into a single organization. The foundation…

My wife, Carol, was sleeping in the passenger seat as we drove past the exit sign for Tyler, Texas. It was 1977 and we were on our way to Boston from Dallas. Never having been to Tyler we knew no one there but out of nowhere and for no reason I said, “Lord, send me to Tyler.” Through a series of connections and circumstances we found ourselves seven years later driving toward Tyler again but this time we took the exit and have been here ever since. It’s our place to which we are called. We’ve never doubted that and this was long before reading this passage in “Jayber Crow”…

Good day, friends. I am writing to let you know my new book is out and is available on Amazon. In a way, it is the result of 40 years of teaching Sunday School. However, it should not take nearly that long to read. It is my take on characters, stories, and themes in Scripture. You can pick and choose what looks interesting to you. These are my thoughts as one who lives on the edge of the inside. The teacher, while not an insider, loves those on the inside while keeping a foot on the outside. We do our best work by remaining just on the edge of the…

A dozen years ago I was asked by a friend if I would consider sharing what I am thinking: “People are curious about why you think the way you do.” Whether it was false humility, fear, or an aversion to being put in a box, I declined. Two years later, I changed my mind when I remembered the old saying that you don’t know what you think until you have written it down. It was not out of a desire to share that I started writing a weekly blog but, selfishly perhaps, a desire to know for myself what I thought. Just as Thoreau went to the woods to live…

Years ago, a friend made a large donation to help a new organization get started. The founder was an acquaintance and not only persuasive but passionate about the new organization being able to meet a social need not being addressed in the community. The venture failed within two years and ended badly for everyone. I told him he had paid his “dumb tax” on giving. We all pay it either early on – like him – or later. It always comes when we venture into areas about which we know very little and, typically, with people we do not know well. The tax tends to decrease with experience but I’ve…

Some blogs are diaries – personal and revealing by making you feel you have been invited into the interior of the author’s life. Others are more like almanacs – filled with useful information and resources by pointing you to other people and places. I’m more like the latter. I want to point you to a wonderful example of the diarist who draws you into the interior of his life. Such is the case here. This is a short excerpt from David Wayne, a pastor in Baltimore, Maryland wrestling with God and cancer. “I have tried to play the good soldier in my battle with cancer but have secretly nursed a…

I pray none of my college professors read this late confession. I went to school in a time that valued citations and footnotes – not so much original thought. I learned this the hard way but over time figured out how to game the system. Here is the part I hope they do not read. If I had something I thought original to say and obviously did not have a recognized source, I would make one up and create a fake footnote. I knew the professor was far more likely to give credence to a published source than a student. I also knew the teaching assistant quickly grading the paper…

I pray none of my college professors read this late confession. I went to school in a time that valued citations and footnotes – not so much original thought. I learned this the hard way but over time figured out how to game the system. Here is the part I hope they do not read. If I had something I thought original to say and obviously did not have a recognized source, I would make one up and create a fake footnote. I knew the professor was far more likely to give credence to a published source than a student. I also knew the teaching assistant quickly grading the paper…

Some of you know I have taught a Sunday School class for 40 years. It’s my anchor as much as my pulpit. For much of that time I taught on topics or passages I chose but then I put myself under the discipline of teaching the “lectionary.” Baptists don’t call it that but that’s what it is. It is the assigned passage sent from Nashville. There are times when I would rather break out and go back to being independent but I guess this is my feeble attempt at growing in sanctification. For years, the word “sanctification” conjured up images of determined efforts to do better. You know Grant Woods’…