I became a mom at the age of 27 after 5 years of marriage. My children are in their early 30s now, and 4 grandchildren bless my days. Thanksgiving turns my mind toward memories of precious holidays past and God’s many blessings through the years. One of those blessings has been the sanctifying work of raising our children. Penny Keathley…
Guy Davies, in a recent article in Spectator, compares the two great dsytopian books of the 20th century–George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. He makes the convincing case that though most people are more familiar with Orwell’s work than Huxley’s, it is Huxley’s nightmare that has turned out to be the most prophetic. I would nuance his argument to say…
The start of the 2018-19 school year marks the 20th anniversary for me as a theology professor. Prior to teaching I had served for 15 years as a pastor. In the last couple of posts Penny and I have reminisced about some of the changes that move has meant for us. In this post I want to briefly discuss what…
While Ken is reminiscing, I will too. It is what one does on 60th birthdays and two decade anniversaries. How well I recall the summer 25 years ago last month when Ken and I traveled from our home in southeast Missouri to Wake Forest, NC to visit the campus of Southeastern Seminary. We had spent the past 10 years planting…
In August 1998 I arrived at Kansas City, MO with my family in tow. Mark DeVine, who at that time taught theology at Midwestern Seminary, was leaving to teach at a school in Southeast Asia. I was tapped to fill in for him. (Mark presently teaches at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, AL.) My first day on campus was also…
These past weeks have been some of the hardest in my 40+ years in ministry. There has been a near daily “punch to the gut” as we’ve processed devastating news about peers and mentors with whom we have served. As Penny and I head to the convention in a little over a week, it will be with heavy yet hopeful…
This morning, you and I awoke to the same heartbreaking news: The worst mass shooting in modern US history. At the time of this writing, news reports indicate that Stephen Paddock, acting alone, shot and killed more than 50 people in Las Vegas, wounding some 200 others. Paddock then killed himself as the SWAT teams were arriving to arrest him. Killing…
In his Knowing God, J. I. Packer begins with a quote from the great Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon: “It has been said by someone that ‘the proper study of mankind is man.’ I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian…
I overheard an interesting discussion recently. A group of students were talking about music, and as the conversation progressed – no matter what point one of them made – one fellow would wade in to deliver the authoritative opinion. The most amusing moment occurred when one student dared to disagree with this pontiff. “Well,” he sniffed, “I happen to be…
“We sometimes forget that we are called to be a people of both justice and justification, and that these two are not contradictory.” Recently Russ Moore wrote an excellent article discussing the proper Christian attitude towards ISIS. Like many other American Christians, at times I feel conflicted. ISIS is a malignant, evil organization, yet it is made of men (and…