I was recently asked to speak at a conference on human trafficking and domestic violence. Shannon Sellars at United was kind enough to record a podcast of the lecture after the fact. If you’re interested listen to the podcast here.

Today, 3/21, is World Down Syndrome Day. The date was chosen to represent the third copy of the twenty-first chromosome that causes Down Syndrome, or Trisomy 21. People with Down Syndrome most often experience learning disabilities that create difficulties in advocating for themselves. In part it is up to us, the church, to advocate for…

Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority has banned a Christian group from advertising faith healing. You can read an article about this here. The Authority claims that this type of advertising is misleading and could generate false hope in people. (I guess that never happens in advertising otherwise.) This, folks, is interesting. Often people have indicated that…

Please take some time to read Bishop Whitaker’s blog post on our thinking through church decline theologically, rather than simply sociologically. This is an insightful post and I think he’s hit the nail on the head.

Candida R. Moss and Jeremy Schipper are the editors of a new volume called Disability Studies and Biblical Literature (Palgrave Macmillan), 2011. This one is a bit hefty in price (it lists for $90 on the Macmillan website), but it looks like it may well be worth a trip to the library. The fields of…

I just reread the Call to Action legislation that will go to the General Conference of the UMC. I think the point of this is to create accountability for our various areas of ministry (currently overseen by the general boards and agencies) and to streamline our massive bureaucracy.  O.k…. I think it will do the…

As you probably know, this year marks the 400 year anniversary of the King James Bible. As a way of marking this illustrious milestone, David Lyle Jeffrey has assembled a very fine group of scholars in the book, The King James Bible and the World It Made. Sometimes edited volumes can be hit and miss,…

I’m becoming more and more concerned about the divisiveness that I see within the Body of Christ.  In the recent edition of Keeping in Touch, a publication for United alums, I have an article about how we are attempting to address this issue and promote Christian unity at United. If you’d like to see it, you…

I went to a great event today at Hyde Park Community UMC in Cincinnati. The topic was “‘Special Needs’ Training for the Church.” The focus was on people with Autism and Down syndrome. There was so much information it would be impossible to summarize. It did start off with some provocative questions, though: Do churches…