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You never know the day your life will change—or the person who will change it. For me, her name was Om Hassan. I was 23, an American soldier…
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An Open Letter to All Christian Theologians
Dear Christian Theologians (and anyone else who discusses theology), Please…. Be Understandable: Theology is worthless if it can’t be understood. There are times and places to use fancy terminology and…
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Ramadan, A Shared Table & Following Jesus
By Jon HuckinsLast night, Janny and I had the honor of sharing a table with a gathering of local Muslim’s for an Iftar meal. It is currently Ramadan, which means the Muslim…
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Now on the Red Carpet: Kevin Palau
If you’ve got a stereotype of an old-school evangelism “crusade, ” prepare to have it dismantled. Under the leadership of Kevin Palau, the Luis Palau Association has produced some…
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Why I’m Fasting with the Dream 9
Friday I decided to join the hunger strike of nine undocumented youth in a detention center in Arizona. Theirs is not the only hunger strike underway right now (I’ve been…
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Is Money The Enemy?
By Micah BalesFor most of my life, I have related to money as an enemy. I viewed finances as a necessary evil, a barrier that had to be overcome somehow in order…
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More than “just”
By Alise WrightA couple of weeks ago, I received an email in which I was called a gross, disgusting name. I deleted the email almost immediately, but something like that doesn’t delete…
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The SOLD Project: Because Prevention Works
By Rachel GobleTravel With Us :: A Short Visual Poem from The SOLD Project on Vimeo. It was October of 2007 when I found myself sitting in a brothel in the center…
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The Lion, the Witch and the War
The Chronicles of Narnia, the incredibly popular collection of books written by C. S. Lewis has sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages. The series, which was conceived by…
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Hungry Gypsies and Ragged Prophets
By Morf MorfordHungry gypsies and ragged prophets Have truths to tell – or find, or barter. They are the jesters of the dangerous Ridiculous and impossible truths, The ones we like to…
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Can Christianity Learn to Say, "I'm Sorry"?
Jesus never said “I’m sorry.” Sure, when He was being crucified He cried out “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (NIV)” But technically He…
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The DREAM 9: Perfect Love Casts Out Fear
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love.” – 1…
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Chat Rooms and Discussion Boards: How Understanding the Internet Changed My Relationships
In 1971, men in the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) invented a way to plug information transfer cables into personal computers. This connected machines like a spider’s web or a…
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White privilege, and what we’re supposed to do about it
The case of Trayon Martin’s death has caused a national conversation around race. People seem to be polarized in their reactions to the recent verdict, and as such I’d love…
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My Response to the Closing of Exodus International
By Tony CampoloOn June 19, 2013, Exodus International President, Alan Chambers, published, “I Am Sorry, “ a blog post on Exodus’ website apologizing to the LGBT community. Over the past month the…
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Time Share Charity and God's Scandalous Grace
By Joy BennettI answer the phone and the voice on the other end of the line chirps, “We want to give you 2 nights and 3 days in our luxurious Florida beach-front…
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Hitler in Heaven?
By John WatsonLet me paint a picture: You die. You ascend, or transmute, or do whatever happens, and end up in heaven. You are greeted by angels, ancestors, Jesus, all the people…
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Now on the Red Carpet: Isabel Castillo
Could it be true that a vibrant young woman who graduated Magna Cum Laude from a reputable east coast university is prohibited from working legally in the country in…
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A Hispanic response to the Trayvon Martin verdict
These past few days have been filled with frustration. I was one of the ones who followed the Zimmerman trial closely and patiently awaited a verdict. It was more so…
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Feeling Impatient?
By Micah BalesI am used to instant gratification. When I get hungry, there is almost always food around. When I am curious about something, I search the internet and can find an…
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Jahar Could Be Your Kid
By Shane RaynorI turned on a couple of the cable news channels last night and the outrage du jour was over Rolling Stone’s decision to run featuring Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (nicknamed Jahar…
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Christianity's 5 Most Popular Scapegoats
Within Christianity it’s easy to criticize. Here are some of the most common scapegoats: 1) Conservative Fundamentalists Christianity’s negative public image is—often rightfully—blamed on these people. Perceived as being exclusive,…
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Stand Your Ground
“No duty to retreat.” That is the foundation of the controversial “stand your ground” laws that are in effect in over half the states. These laws allow people to “stand…
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Where Is God When We're in Pain?
“Night” is a by Elie Wiesel about his experience in the German concentration camps. “One day, ” writes Wiesel, “as we returned from work, we saw three gallows… The SS…
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No Passengers & No Excuses
By Morf MorfordWe human beings have struggled with the place, power and purity of religion and politics since the dawn of history. Whose belief system is ‘right’ and what to do with…
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Is It Harmful to Tell People to Love Their Enemies If You Never Teach Them How?
After hearing a sermon on Jesus’ call to visit those imprisoned, Jasmine signed up as a volunteer for her church’s prison ministry. She was inspired by the vision that God’s…
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What if the World Doesn't End?
By Yaholo Hoyt“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” – Matthew 24:36 ESV Many people seem to…
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A White Pastor’s Miracle in Trayvon Martin’s Church
A thousand things ran through my mind when the news broke Saturday night about George Zimmerman’s acquittal. I was in a bar, meeting a few ministry friends for a drink…
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Trayvon and George: A Tale of Two Americas
The recent “not guilty” verdict out of Sanford, FL, reflects the principle of the American legal system that if there is reasonable doubt, courts will err on the side of…
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Finding justice for Trayvon: seven actions steps for our outrage
“I take for granted that I belong wherever I happen to be.” — Joan Haskins Any plausible deniability about the negative bias that black men face in our country was pulled…
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Trayvon Martin and the American Judicial System
By Andrew MarinA few hours ago the ruling of “not guilty” by a six-women jury permeated the now infamous courtroom in Stanford, Florida, as George Zimmerman will not serve any jail time for killing…
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Stop Comparing my Christianity to Your Christianity!
My translation of the Bible is better than your translation. Hymns are better than choruses. The Contemporary service is better than the Traditional one. My version of baptism is better…
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EXECUTION ALERT: Warren Lee Hill
UPDATE: Warren’s execution has been moved to Friday, July 19 at 7pm. Please continue to pray for a miracle! A mentally-retarded man is scheduled to be executed in Georgia on Monday.…
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It's Desperate in Guantanamo
The situation in Guantanamo is desperate. Over 100 prisoners are on hunger strike, and the strike just passed its 150th day this week (also the beginning of Ramadan). 45 are…
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Masturbation and the Spiritual Life
By T.C. RyanThere is a growing conversation around masturbation and relationships. It’s a good thing to have this discussion and I suspect the openness of it is a generational thing. Of the…
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I'm Humbled, Probably Not
By Kathy Vestal“I am humbled to receive this award, ” we say. Or “I was humbled to be offered that position.” Really? What does that mean? Does it just mean “I don’t…
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Getting Dirty with Jesus
By Nancy SleethIt’s summer, and once again my fingernails are a wreck. I’ve got a quarter-inch gash hanging slanted off my pointer finger cuticle, like a bloody Q sign. My left thumb…
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Traditional Ignorance
By Morf MorfordIgnorance may not always be bliss, but it can certainly get comfortable. Simplistic assumptions and familiar slogans become so comfortable and comforting that we just cannot let them go. Each…
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My Weirdest Interview Ever with Jim Wallis
We started a new summer social justice lecture series at our church in downtown Portland this last Sunday. Despite some lingering anxieties from those less familiar with the platform, we…
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July 4th – Independence Day: A Day to Weep, Mourn, and Fast
Independence Day is our country’s oldest holiday. On that day, in 1776, Congress passed the Declaration making the United State’s separation with Great Britain legal effecting our autonomy from the…
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Flag Extremism and Christian Practice
I suspect the wonderful fragrance of the product they make is lost on those working every day in a perfume factory. And the stench is eventually not noticed by those…
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Oh, For A Thousand tongues to sing
By Morf MorfordHe comes into my class Wearing a T-shirt that says, In big bright letters, “You’re in America – SPEAK ENGLISH”. And I ask the class To write down at least…
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Marriage Damaged by Porn: A Pastor’s Reflections
By T.C. RyanRecently I was asked about a very difficult situation. A woman has been married to a man with a long-term addiction to pornography. The last few years he’s been trying…
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Defending Paula Deen: what the national reaction can teach us about race
There has been a lot of press about the recent lawsuit filed against Paula Deen, alleging (among other things) that she tolerated blatant racism towards the staff in her company’s…
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What If Prayer Lists Were Work Lists?
By Yaholo Hoyt“Ok everyone, time for prayer requests…” I don’t know about you, but those times always unsettle me a bit. Not that I mind praying, but something just always seemed missing…
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What does it mean to forgive someone?
What does it mean to forgive someone? Before you read this blog, I want you to take a stab at answering that question with someone around you (it’ll be like…
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The Danger of Big Surveillance Government
Sweeping, indiscriminate condemnations of Big Government are, I believe, misguided. But some expressions of Big Government certainly do deserve to be resisted. Sweeping surveillance by the government is one of…
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Should Christians Support Edward Snowden, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange?
Christians have been passionately debating gay marriage, abortion, evolution, school prayer, immigration and gun control for years, but for a religion that is founded on the virtues of truth, honesty…
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Will Texas’ 500th Execution, Kimberly McCarthy, help victims?
By Marty TroyerToday we Texans will kill our 500th person who was created in the image of God. 500 families and our communities have lived in grief and fear because of the…
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Response to the SCOTUS
This morning, SCOTUS announced that the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (ironically signed into law by Bill Clinton during his two-term presidency) is ‘unconstitutional as a deprivation of the equal…
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Singing the Virtues of Drones
Let us sing of the virtues of drones! Sure, they can be used to kill and destroy. Still there is a melody in the air inspired by drone warfare. Yes,…
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You Are Not Alone
By RLC EditorLast week I told you how I met Tony Campolo and how found myself directing Tony’s new initiative, Red Letter Christians. Since that first day 30 months ago Red Letter…
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Parents Just Want their Kids Back
I recently had the opportunity to attend a meeting on messaging strategies that engage people to support stricter gun laws. The goal of these changes is to make it harder…
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Are You Agapephobic?
By John WatsonDo you think God loves you most when you’re good, and less when you’re bad? Do you think God loves you lots, and your enemies a bit less? Do you…
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New Testament Anti-smackdown
By Morf MorfordI’ve always been intrigued by the social, political and theological milieu of Jesus. If God could have chosen any culture, any language, any era, in fact any individual, why would…
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Exodus international: bending history's arc
For more than a generation, the gay conversion organization known as Exodus International has been one of the most prominent Christian symbols of LGBT intolerance. They have practiced what is…
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Ex-Gay No More: The End of Exodus International
By Kathy VestalThe ex-gay myth has crashed. Fallen. Shattered. Exodus International president Alan Chambers announced last night that Exodus is shutting down. Tonight in a televised interview with Lisa Ling (OWN 10pmET),…
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BREAKING: Explosion in Kabul near Afghan Peace Volunteers Home
THIS JUST IN… Yesterday, there was an explosion near the community house in Kabul, where the Afghan Peace Volunteers live and work (and where I visited a few months back).…
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No, We Don’t Worship The Same God. (Do We?)
For Evangelical Christians, there is really no more important question than “Who do we worship?” If you were to ask the average evangelical who they worshipped, we would more than…
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The biblical definition of marriage and its relevance to marriage equality
Earlier this year, as the Supreme Court began the conversation around California’s contested Proposition 8, social media outlets were buzzing with opinion over marriage equality. In an attempt to show…
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God’s Graffiti: Inspiring Stories for Teens
A little over a year ago I started working on a book that would speak to the needs of at-risk youth. I use that term loosely because the truth is…
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Ayn Rand vs. Jesus Christ: FIGHT!
By Yaholo HoytSo I’ll admit this article first took seed in my mind due to the entertaining visual of the title. However, I believe the potent philosophy of Ayn Rand has taken…
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We Are the Words…
By Morf MorfordThe Bible opens With the Creator Literally speaking the world into being And we imagine, That we human creatures, In a sense, like every other creature, Given life by God’s…
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We are Red Letter Christians
By RLC EditorI began working for Tony Campolo almost five years ago. I was a student at Eastern University and needed an on-campus job that could help subsidize the food and fun…
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The Disturbing Trend of Christian Self-Deprecation
Christianity is a corporate community that includes thousands of different sects, factions, organizations and denominations—it includes millions of individuals and their nuanced theologies. The problem with the “Christian” label is…
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Nature’s Elegant Geometry: Signs of God?
My wife, Amy, and I try to take Mondays off together. It’s our only time without kids but with each other and few job demands looking over us. Yesterday after…
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The Gift of Receiving
By John Watson“If there’s anything I can do… Can I help? Just let me know… Anything at all.” My son went into hospital, and for the first time, I was the object…
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Christianity Means Not Knowing All the Answers
By Kathy VestalIt seems to me it’s unchristian to claim, or even aim, to know all the answers about God. Think a moment with me. We Christians claim to believe in a…
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Why Conflict is Good For Us
By Micah BalesAs a teenager, I always loved a good fight. I got a huge adrenaline rush from hashing out Very Important Issues with peers and elders alike. More importantly, I believed…
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Showdown on a South China ferry – Do we have faith because we were born into it?
By Morf MorfordWhat religion a man shall have is a historical accident, quite as much as what language he shall speak. ~George Santayana, Reason in Religion Do we have a faith because…
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Mislabeling the Word of God
By Yaholo Hoyt“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” – John 1:1, ESV The Bible is not the “Word of God.” It…
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Entertainment Christianity
A Christian’s worst nightmare isn’t bad theology, hypocrisy or heresy—it’s boredom. Westernized Christianity has become addicted to entertainment, and we expect our sermons, worship and Sunday school classes to be…
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Raising Kids and Radically Following Jesus. Possible?
By Jon HuckinsBefore we had kids, we loved to travel, had worldview stretching experiences and were all together creative in how we lived the lives we had been given. For us, having…
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The Damaging Effects of Shame-Based Sex Education: Lessons From Elizabeth Smart
A couple months ago, several Christian bloggers created a conversation about the potentially harmful aspects of idolizing virginity and purity. While I think that abstinence is a great goal for…
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Churches Shouldn't Be Think Tanks
I remember the first time I met someone without papers. They were 12 or 13, like me, and pretty unremarkable and brown. I can still feel the tension between my…
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If we say we have no sin…who are we really calling a liar?
By Morf MorfordOne of the many themes of the Bible, expressed on almost every page, but rarely presented from the pulpit or explored in Christian self-help books, or even fiction, is the…
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Honor and Shame: A First Century Lens for Today
This post will be the epitome of a layperson’s understanding of this particular topic, but perhaps it will be new information to some and provide a very general overview. Hopefully…
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Uncool! — Google and Facebook's Human Trafficking Complicity
I was speaking at a on how to end human trafficking. Every single speaker there — from FBI agents, to Pentagon military people, to professors studying the issue and survivors running…
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The False Idol of “Christianity”
Welcome to Christianity! Please complete the following questionnaire: Are you an Armenian or a Calvinist? Do you enjoy contemporary or traditional worship? Do you sing hymns or choruses? Do you…
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Love is Everything
By Matt YoungOver the past year a lot of my beliefs have changed. I went from being a Soldier in the U.S. Army to a Pacifist. I went from having a nationalistic,…
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Refocusing the Great Commission
By Kathy Vestal“. . . go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey…
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Queer People Have More to Offer the World than What We Are Not
Queer people have more to offer the world than what we are not. There is something liberating and life-saving about the Gospel. Jesus hung out on the margins, with the…
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Give It All Away: Could Jesus Possibly Have Meant What He Said About Money?
By Micah BalesThis week at Capitol Hill Friends, we looked at Luke 12:13-34, where Jesus lays out some of his radical teaching about money. He tells the story of the rich fool…
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Five Questions with Sarah Thebarge, Author of The Invisible Girls
is the author of The Invisible Girls, a new memoir from . I was fortunate to get a few minutes to ask her a few questions about her touching, funny, compelling…
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There Should Be No Poor Among You
By Morf MorfordThis is one of the few commands virtually all religious people I know easily – even eagerly – follow. We just do it our own way. The Biblical and cultural…
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Proximity and Relationship: A Personal Story
There’s credibility and power in proximity and relationship. It is impossible to advance the message of reconciliation without being in proximity to and relationship with those who’ve been marginalized. Proximity to and relationship with the marginalized instills in…
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Warfare Kills Nonhuman Animals Too
For nearly a century, anti-war sentiment has been a cultural force with which governments, religions, and economies have had to reckon. Christian pacifists have played important parts in these movements,…
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Certainty, Accuracy and Seeking to Follow Jesus
Recently on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, sports commentator Tim Goldman mentioned a at Washington State University. Those who conducted it found that a sports pundit’s twitter following increased much…
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The Bible Isn’t Perfect And It Says So Itself
By Zack HuntIf you blog long enough, someone will eventually call you a heretic. Self-appointed orthodoxy watchdogs plague the internet almost as much as porn. Say something outside their particular theological tradition…
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Tornadoes, Butterfly People and Finding the Sacred in Collective Stories
By Rachel LloydAfter witnessing the profound impact of the Joplin tornado from a nearby community, I learned of an unexpected survival mechanism that became quickly woven through the fabric of the raw…
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Serving Beyond Structures: Ministering Beyond Ministries
There are ministries that revolve around motorcycles, cars, pets, political parties, denominations, books, hiking, cooking, and for people without access to water, shoes, homes, jobs, food and even healthy food.…
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Reformation Takes Decades, but Revolution Draws Blood in a Day
By Yaholo HoytTo the Young Revolutionary, Revolution is the cry of the young. It comes, mostly, from a good place. A young man or woman wakes up in this world with fresh…
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Memorial Day and the Sacrificed
No one joins the military to die. No one intends to be a sacrifice, though many soldiers know there is a possibility they will die if sent into conflict. Yet…
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Memorial Day – Mourning Our "Enemies" Deaths
On this Memorial Day, what if we not only remember American soldiers but all the soldiers around the world who have lost their lives? And not only soldiers, but all…
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Jesus and Baptists and Jews – Oy Vey!
Some of my all-time favorite people are Jewish: The Marx Brothers. Mel Brooks. Even my Lord and Savior is a Jew. And then, there’s our local rabbi (sort of), Seth…
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Why I am Actively Supporting the Boy Scouts
A kid no more than thirteen or so came to our door yesterday. We stood tall and was freshly pressed in his scout uniform, his black canvas Chuck Taylors the…
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Why “Evangelical” Is Worth Saving
It was September 2005, only four short years after the devastating terrorist attacks that crippled our nation, and I was sitting right in the middle of a large evangelical church.…
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Arizona atheist's invocation in state legislature raises questions about public 'prayer'
By Kay CampbellIs it possible to give an invocation for a public group without it becoming a religious prayer? Yes, according to Arizona State Rep. Juan Mendez, who offered a secular invocation…
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The Irrelevance of Jesus to Congressmen and Food Stamps
It is astonishing to me that politicians who are eager to identify themselves as Christians so readily declare the irrelevance of Jesus. Not that they claim he is totally irrelevant.…
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The Pledge of Allegiance: 2 Reasons Why Christians Should Not Say It
By Matt YoungThe Pledge of Allegiance was originally composed in 1892 by Francis Bellamy. Originally the Pledge was composed of these words: I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the republic for…
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The Violence of Peacemaking
By Jon HuckinsEditor’s Note: Today, author Jon Huckins launches the Global Immersion Project! Watch the video below to learn more and scroll beneath it to read Jon’s post! The Global Immersion Project…