Since it is not 1965, we have to do church different
[This is the second blog post in a series. The first was "Since it is not 1955, we have to do church different" found at...
View ArticleSeeing ourselves
There’s a saying here in Texas that “even a blind hog finds a nut now and then.” Maybe that’s why even people with less-than-noble purposes sometimes do something good. Of course, if you acknowledge...
View ArticleThe Church Draft
As millions of football fans will undoubtedly will be glued to their televisions and social media, they will hunger for the latest information about NFL draft picks. The NFL draft is part pageantry and...
View ArticleBoston is about us
When I recovered from the initial shock and horror of the Boston Marathon bombing, I automatically switched into advocacy mode. ”Please, God,” I thought, “don’t let the perpetrators turn out to be...
View ArticleWhen the church is at its best
Hardly a day goes by that I do not read some criticism of the church—whether in its local, national, or global expressions. I acknowledge that there is much to criticize but there is much to praise as...
View ArticleDon’t call your next pastor. Draft your next pastor.
The pastor search process might be a whole lot more fun (or funny) if it was run like the National Football League draft. Why go through months—even years—of searching for the right pastor when you...
View ArticleRunning the race on the first saturday of May
Reflections from Saturday May 4th I’m pondering the significance of this day–the first Saturday of May in 2013. Traditionally in my place of residence, Columbia, S.C., it marks the beginning of the...
View ArticleGene Puckett, my father, and the best member of our family!
In 1978, Gene Puckett was the major speaker at the retirement dinner for my father, G. W. Bullard, as executive director-treasurer of the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania-South Jersey. He and dad had...
View ArticleThe best/worst graduation speech ever
A couple of years ago, I attended a graduation ceremony at Emory University. The keynote speaker was the chief of surgery at one of the nation’s leading hospitals. I didn’t know him, but apparently...
View ArticleLearning to love a thermostat God
By Alan Bean “Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world?” This question was originally scrawled in the margin of an Alabama newspaper by an...
View ArticleMy marriage fell apart the day the dog died
I am sure you’ve heard the old adage that married life begins again when the last child leaves home and the dog dies. Frequently I also hear people say they moved to a new house without a forwarding...
View ArticleIs giving an offering — as an expression of worship — dying?
With online giving through a congregation’s web site, or texting a contribution, or bank drafts, or offering boxes in a corner of the worship space or narthex, or discouraging visitors from giving an...
View ArticleCan you imagine?
“Can you imagine being in a place where you do not know how to communicate??” That is how my friend from South America began a short presentation she will be giving as a panelist for a breakout at this...
View ArticleHomeless
By Alan Bean Homeless, homeless Moonlight sleeping on a midnight lake These old Paul Simon lyrics have been running like a soundtrack through the back of my mind for the past few days. My wife and I...
View ArticleThais of the heart
A Catholic nun and a Baptist minister walked into a Thai restaurant. They sat down and ordered Pad Thai. Over noodles and conversation they discovered that, long ago and some 500 miles away, they...
View ArticleMoore, Okla. no exception: the second disaster always follows the first.
As if the various formal networks of government, religious, nonprofit, and private sector organizations, plus the thousands of informal networks of families, friends, and new instant friends, did not...
View ArticleBlessing graduates
Graduate recognition Sunday at church always makes me a bit teary. I held it together this year, but only by a thread, even though I was the one voicing the prayer of blessing in morning worship today....
View ArticleTime to count our blessings
My ministry “day job” is to give leadership to my church fellowship’s national disaster response. In this role with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, I interact with our churches, other churches and...
View ArticleRemembering Will Campbell, a spiritual brother
Some years ago, songwriter and poet Mickey Newbury sat down to pen a song about Cortelia Clark. With the background full of sounds of distant trains and despair dripping from the trees, he led with...
View ArticleMy connection with the Rev. Will D. Campbell
In the fall of 2004, I was taking a seminary course on Thomas Merton. It was being taught by Merton friend and scholar E. Glenn Hinson. Dr. Hinson knew of my near-obsession with all things Will...
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