Category: Uncategorized

One of the great challenges of the modern American era is finding solutions to public violence, especially in regard to homicide in and among the poor, most particularly concerning black on black crime.    All violence is and ought to be disturbing.  Something surely must be wrong with us if we find violence to be…

This last weekend was one of those times when I experienced a real depressive episode after preaching.  It was one of the worst I have ever had.  I felt defeated, embarrassed and ashamed.  When I was finished I couldn’t even remember how I had ended the sermon.  Afterward, the Lord’s Supper was celebrated and I…

   As we approach the coming General Assembly to be held in Mobile many of our presbyteries have been discussing the idea of an Assembly Confession and Repentance concerning racism, especially during the Civil Rights period of our nation.  I have been involved in several discussions concerning this idea, and seen a few different proposed…

MY GREATEST SUCCESSES IN LIFE AND MINISTRY   Recently I saw that sometimes in interviews people ask applicants to tell what they think are their greatest moments of success.  That spurred my thinking so I want to try to name a dozen or so in my life, but I would hesitate to call them “accomplishments.”…

A Call To Worship So, it’s Friday, you’ve been asked to select the passage that will call God’s people to worship this coming Lord’s Day and you’re stuck. It’s not that you’ve exhausted the Psalms but you’re looking for something from a different book or even genre of Scripture. A few weeks ago you were…

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. Prov. 31:8-9.  While I can’t remember the first time I read this passage I do remember its effect on me. Passages like this introduced me to an aspect of…

Have you ever heard from one of your members, either directly but most probably indirectly, “I’m just not being spiritually fed?”   Well, it is wise to listen to your critics as I have heard it said that they are the first ones to see our faults, and usually before we ourselves see them.  Although I…

THE GOSPEL, JUSTICE, AND MERCY PASTOR!   I don’t know if you have ever read a Louis L’amour western, but they often start something like this… “A tall stranger, a few inches over six feet, rides into town.  He rides upon his chestnut gelding with his back straight and his six gun held in his holster…

WORSHIP:  MUSIC, MUSICIANS, AND MONEY     I enjoy speaking to young church planters who are struggling to find out how to have an effective music ministry as part of their worship service.  Finding musicians available, skilled, and committed is a very old problem.  Nehemiah found this out when he came back to Jerusalem and realized…”that…

   Recently someone told me about a church in a certain city where my name had come up in a conversation.  Evidently someone in that church had suggested that I be invited to come and preach or consult with them and “they” (whoever “they” might be) said, “Randy has an agenda, we are just going…

    I would like to discuss several different words or phrases in this article.  Obviously the two words in the title of this piece are good words, things we should be in favor of and want to see happen.  One might often link these two words together and assume that if we have reconciliation, specifically…

Recently I was at a committee meeting and it was discovered we needed more people to serve on it.  As we discussed potential candidates to fill up the committee I mentioned someone I will refer to here as “So and So.”   So and So happens to be a good man, and would have made an…

    Recently I had the privilege to sit in a room with several (six to be exact) African American women who were graduates, or soon to be, of three different Reformed seminaries.  These women had been or were in Master of Divinity programs.  Needless to say, but needful for you to know, they are smart,…

The other day I posted a little (cynical) quip about the options some churches are offering at communion.   I think some might have been offended either by my quip, or the comments that came afterward.  Most of these were simply people telling stories of what they had seen offered or done.  I wanted to clarify…

By Randy Nabors, (the imperfect husband) 1.      Sometime in the relationship you have to choose to love the person they are, and accept the idea that they don’t have to be (maybe will never be, maybe should never be) the person you want them to become. 2.     Sometime in the relationship you should finally want…

   Recently I read an article from the Atlantic Monthly (Why So Many Black Men Are Dying In America by Jeffry Goldberg) in which it cited that 260,000 African American men were murdered between 1980 and 2013.  I have also heard that the number of homicides annually is about 15,000 in America.  These are frightening…

There are two dynamics of current American life that are on my mind as I write these articles.  One is the too often tragic confrontation between African Americans and police officers, which I will write about first, and the other is the mass killing of African American young men.  These two experiences are related in…

Dear Brothers in the various Presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church in America,    Greetings to all of you in Jesus name!  I am writing as a response to the events at the General Assembly held this summer in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  I am writing in an attempt to provide some ideas as to how Presbyteries and…

    Some authorities seem to be having a problem finding a motive for the killing of our marines and a sailor in Chattanooga this July.  There seems to be a hesitation to call it terrorism if the perpetrator cannot be proved to have some connection to a terrorist organization.  Since the killer was a Muslim…

   It seems to me that we have a conflict of compassionate perspectives when it comes to immigration.  Sometimes we hear stories of undocumented immigrants who are caught by the reality that though they live in the U.S., possibly came here legally but overstayed their visa, or were brought here by their parents but now…