Everything is vanity, if left to us. ...

A young guy about age 20 walked into the lobby and asked for a job application. I explained we weren’t hiring, so he said he wanted a pack of Marlboros. I walked over behind the counter, handed him the cigarettes and told him that would be 50 cents. (Yes, you read that right.) He produced a $1 bill and when I opened the drawer to get change he told me he wanted all t...

Combining two older posts into one, Joey and Jake argue that immigration is a theological issue more than a political issue, which should inform the way we think about it. ...

This past week, Senate Democrats released a 6,000 page report about CIA tactics in the post-9/11 but pre-Obama world. It is colloquially known as the “torture report,” although it centers around what the CIA called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” which were approved by the Bush administration, funded by Congress, and considered legal by various...

I watched a man die once. It was not an experience I’ve ever wanted to repeat again. He was a quiet, pleasant patient whom I had taken care of a few times since he had been placed within our unit. That day, my friend was his nurse. She called me in to come help her, stating he was having difficulty breathing. Sure enough, he was in his recliner gasping for breath. As she...

Recently, Sheree Phillips wrote a transparent and helpful post on the struggle of waiting for God. If you're like her (and me), then you probably have an aversion to waiting for just about anything. And the reality is that if you're a Westerner, you're probably just like us in this way. It's no new revelation that with our culture-wide embrace of fast food, fast cash, and ...

Modest dress is a worthy discussion (after all, the Bible does talk about it!) but modesty includes far more than what can be seen on the outside. In fact, the definition of modest is not “Women who dress culturally appropriate.” Rather, the definition is “the quality of being modest; freedom from vanity, boastfulness, etc.” I didn’t see “Modest is hottest” a...

Being a Christian in modern military life could be compared to a salmon making the tough journey up stream. There are times it can feel as though everything in life is coming at you trying to drive you in the mainstream direction, opposite of what you're striving towards. There are so many hardships and uncertainties: low finances, multiple moves, many times having a lack ...

“Oh, great,” said everyone. “Another church railing against promiscuity, homosexuality, and how society is going to hell in a handbasket. Just what I want to read today (this is not what I want to read today).” I know there is something archaic and cliché to read a blog post about sexual ethics from an evangelical church. Having admitted that, I hope you’ll bear...

If you step inside a major city, you see art everywhere. You see it on the billboards and the crossing signs; you hear it in the form of music on radio or see it on giant T.V.'s in places like New York City. If you pay attention to those things, they have one thing in common--communication. These mediums of art usually bring a message to the viewer or listener to express s...

There are reasons to respect Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the family at the center of AMC’s blockbuster hit Duck Dynasty. He was a good enough athlete to start over 4-time Super Bowl champion Terry Bradshaw while in college even though he didn’t think much about practice. He was, by his own admission, a borderline alcoholic and druggie until he was miraculously sav...

When I decided to go to law school, I received many comments like “Are you going to be one of the ones who keeps the criminals off the street?” and “Nice. So you’re going to get the bad guys and make sure they pay.” At the time, I had no difficulty with these statements. Though I had no intention of pursuing a career in criminal law, I figured that if I did, it w...

At age 60 I remember the days when church women’s ministries were focused on Titus 2: 3-5 which in part teaches women to be “keepers at home.” In fact, I was one of those pastor’s wives who taught this passage in our own church’s women’s ministry. Honestly, I benefited from this. I gained a vision for my home as the primary focus of my gifts and ministry. I lea...

My cousin Doug Hodges (pretty much a big brother to the Phillips kids), pointed me to an article he had come across recently by a gentleman named Thomas Umstattd Jr. regarding why he felt like courtship, as opposed to traditional dating, was fundamentally flawed. Since the article was very thorough, if haphazard, and encapsulated a lot of the criticism I have heard of cour...

This month in our cultural value series we are sharing thoughts on different issues women face. Last week, Janelle discussed the issue of women and image. This week I want to touch on the topic of women and work. When you think about women and work there is SO much that has already been said and written on the subject. I am not going to attempt to address the question on w...

I forget things all the time. Just ask my husband. He has formed a habit of following behind me whenever we leave somewhere, whether it’s a restaurant or a friend’s house, to grab my phone, keys, and wallet that I left behind. My forgetfulness is my dad’s fault (right, Mom?), or so I claim. I tend to forget other things, too. I tend to look at what is going on around...

In Part 1 of the #CulturalValues post about Immigration, Joey pointed out that fundamentally, Christians should think about this issue through the lens of Jesus’ teaching about the “least of these.” Our primary concern about this issue should be for people, not fences. It’s important to remember that neither of us are advocating for a specific policy position. Our ...

This past Sunday, Joey Phillips delivered the latest sermon in our Age of Heroes series, entitled David and Goliath. Joey pointed out that the story of David and Goliath is a story about the complete and utter authority of God, as well as the heroic obedience of David....

By all accounts, thousands and thousands of children are entering the United States from Mexico every month. What has been a political issue for a long time has become something of a crisis. It is at the point that the government is asking for help from churches in the areas most affected. (See http://tinyurl.com/ow93le3) This issue has a lot of facets, not the least of w...

Walking purposefully along the winding sidewalk towards the host hotel for my final day at The Gospel Coalition’s national women’s conference, I was stopped by an inquisitive taxi driver who looked at my name tag and asked me what was going on inside. As if to aid me in my answer, I held out my nametag for him to read and replied “It’s an event put on by The Gospel...

The recent opinion issued by Justice Samuel Alito on behalf of the Supreme Court in the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case gives us reason to rejoice, although not, I think, for the reasons most Christians (and people of all faiths and religions) have been rejoicing thus far. In Hobby Lobby, the Supreme Court held that the obligations imposed on closely-held corporations by the ...

This #CulturalValues talk is about homosexuality " well, sort of. It’s about the LGBT movement, or the LBQGTITZFOB or whatever they are called now " although,as you’ll see, that’s kind of the point. This talk has two major points. I want to address the present reality (homosexuality) and I want to address the future possibilities, or the future goals of the LGBT move...