As a rule, I tend to avoid using columns or sermons to deal with political matters unless those matters are pressing, egregious and have crossed very clear lines of truth.

The older we are, the more we can see how the world has changed.

Feb. 14 marked the 203rd birthday of a monumentally important figure in American history, a man who truly understood what it means that every human being is made in the image of God.

The Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee voted Tuesday to oust four of its churches, two over policies deemed to be too inclusive of LGBTQ people and two more for employing pastors convicted of sex offenses.

Divisions over race, politics, gender and LGBTQ issues are roiling America's largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, ahead of a meeting of its executive committee next week.

Two days before Christmas, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries confirmed that its founder had engaged in sexual misconduct over the course of many years and promised further information when the investigation into the matter was complete.

Someone sent me a text the other day about all the trash-talking during the Super Bowl and how it seemed to bother some of the players.

"Cold doesn't care how you got there; it's just as cold whether you got there because of laziness or because of circumstances beyond your control."

Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond defended his department and leadership Wednesday in the first public response after dozens of local clergy called on his office to be more transparent and accountable.

Nature documentaries like the BBC's "Planet Earth," "Blue Planet" and, most recently, "A Perfect Planet" are amazing masterpieces of modern videography, displaying creation in detail and majesty.

I remember, as a young boy, watching Billy Graham crusades on television, sitting in the living room with my parents and occasionally my visiting grandparents.

Among other unusual things, I belong to that unique fraternity of wandering souls known as backpackers.

Church bells are again chiming in East Ridge, more than a decade after they went silent.

Since the time that our children were very little, our family has always gathered together at night time before bed to pray together.

The word revival, from the Hebrew word "chayah," means to bring back to life, to restore, rejuvenate and renew. In the context of spiritual revival, it is often referred to as the great exchange, where man is shown his need to rededicate his life back to God and, through repentance, yields his will to God's will.

The new Netflix film "My Octopus Teacher" is hard to categorize.

How many times will it need to be declared that we can have as much of God as we want? And how many tears will we shed from the sadness of knowing that most people only want enough to get by?

Since the time our children were babies, we have always gathered together as a family and prayed together before bed.

The devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic is still being tallied, both in terms of lives and livelihoods lost. In addition to the millions dead, the millions more who've been infected (including some who face long-term physical damage), there's the psychological and emotional harm of extended isolation and the millions who face financial ruin. In the midst of all of that, we are now learning of another, less obvious, but just as deadly fallout from the pandemic.

The Christian imagery and rhetoric on view during this month's Capitol insurrection are sparking renewed debate about the societal effects of melding Christian faith with an exclusionary breed of nationalism.

We are deep into January, and I hope the New Year's resolutions you made are still going strong.

Recently, I've had occasion to ponder suffering in a deeper way than ever before.

Having read the text for my Sunday morning message this past week, I then did something I have never done before in 38 years of preaching: