Category: Uncategorized

   How are we to pursue reconciliation?  Is reconciliation a legitimate or worthy goal?  How do we define it?  How do we know when it has been achieved, and is it achievable at all?     If reconciliation is making something whole again, if it is making peace, if it bringing what has been torn back…

One Sunday I sat around a table with some dear friends who all have adult children.  The conversation turned to the subject of children in the church who were raised in Christian homes and who no longer attend church.  This was not a concern with them not attending “our” church, but the fact that these…

Lately I have been reading articles by a few Evangelicals who are deeply committed to racial justice.  As I agree and sympathize with much, I do find myself in reaction to some of the things they have said. These ideas, and others like them, spring up from time to time, although often in new phrases…

  Did anything ever really happen in history that all of us could agree on?  Is there anything that has happened at which we could all say, “that was evil, that was bad, and that should never have happened?”  Is everything up for interpretation?   If we agree certain events did happen do we have the…

   This last weekend I, along with my wife, gave my daughter away in marriage.  Actually it was entirely at my daughter’s request and I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.  My wife and I have prayed for her since she was born that the Lord would provide the man for her to marry or at…

In light of the recent incident in Charlottesville I wanted to follow up on a friend’s request for a few suggestions concerning the pursuit of redemptive ethnic unity. I define redemptive ethnic unity as the tangible unity God’s people are called to experience and enjoy in the local church. This isn’t exhaustive as each point…

Raging unbelief, but I’m not talking about atheists.  I’m not referring to skeptics, agnostics, or any unbeliever who struggles to have or understand faith.  I’m speaking about myself.  I’m classified as a believer, as a Christian, Reformed, orthodox, and conservative in my theological confession.  Yet, it seems God has decided to face me with my…

On a recent weekend I was forced to remember how sensitive racial and ethnic feelings are within some people.   It was an interesting juxtaposition of one black man and one white man on two consecutive days in two different places, providing not so much a contrast but a similarity.    I will tell you in…

This is an excerpt from a book I am writing on ministry….     There is probably nothing better for your physical heart than to have a happy home life.  If you are in love with your wife, and she loves you, and if you enjoy your children and they delight for you to be home…

    I have been consciously in the struggle for racial justice since I was in high school.  I believe strongly in and strive for racial reconciliation in the way I live my life.  I am a white American male married to an African American woman.  We both come from Newark, NJ and were teenagers…

One of the greatest things we have in our Western system of justice is trial by jury.  One of the most frustrating things we have in our Western system of justice is trial by jury.  One of the best things we have as American citizens are our rights under the U.S. Constitution and one of…

   I have been ruminating on how often a pastor should be gone from his flock.  How many outside engagements should a pastor take per year?  How many Sundays should he miss for vacation, denominational responsibilities, or preaching invitations?      The answer lies somewhere in what specifically your employer allows (namely your Elders or Board),…

I had a hard time sleeping last night.  It is sometimes like this for me after I preach or speak at an event.  I am often agitated about the mistakes I have made in my sermon or speech.  I feel guilty and that I have disappointed the Lord.  Usually this does not come about because…

As someone who has been involved in the struggle for racial reconciliation for most of my life and ministry I am concerned at times with some of the rhetoric and conversation I hear and read from my side of the fence.  What I mean by “my side of the fence” are those folks with whom…

  On a recent Sunday our congregation sat down to a discussion during the Sunday School hour.  We usually do something like this every year in February as we commemorate Black History Month.  This year our discussion leader (Dr. Carl Ellis, Jr.) led us through some thoughts on Black Lives Matter, the difference between the…

BEING PROPHETIC WITHOUT BEING A JERK!    In these turbulent and polarizing political times how are we to speak a Biblical and true word to the actions, events, and words of politicians to those around us? Here are twelve tips, especially if you are going to use social media to express political opinions: ·       Don’t…

Let me start this article by some “up fronts.” Since this article is about a political figure it is therefore a political article. I am not a Hillary Clinton supporter.  I am pro-life, I am opposed to homosexual marriage being made legal, I am concerned with radical Islam.  I am also pro-civil and human rights…

Today I had one of those interesting moments where all kinds of issues came together for me as an urban pastor.  It was all about being a pastor that made the moment happen.  I was in a place of business where two young African American women were behind a business desk.  One of them happened…

Recently my wife and I were in Miami Beach for a few days of vacation.  We walked over to a restaurant called Pollo Tropical for a meal and while I was in line a white man standing next to me began to talk.  We were in a very multi-ethnic setting with all kinds of folks…

  This is a reflection on athletes not saluting the flag during the Star Spangled Banner at the beginning of their games.  This is a reflection from a patriotic veteran, a retired Colonel of 32 years with a couple of trips to a middle-east war zone.  This is the reflection of an American who is…