A recent CNN headline proclaims: This televangelist is asking his followers to buy him a $54 million private jet The televangelist in question is Jesse Duplantis, leader of Jesse Duplantis Ministries out of Louisiana. He apparently owns three other jets as well. (It’s hard to get by with just one, after all.) In response, my…
Rudy Rasmus is an extraordinary pastor who serves St. John’s United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas. He was kind enough to sit down with us for an interview on the podcast, and he told an amazing and emotional story of God’s love and redemption in his life. Plus, you get to hear Scott Kisker say something…
Two days ago I went to a funeral for Dr. Newell Wert, who served as Academic Dean of United Theological Seminary for over thirty years. Having been dean for not nearly that long, I can only say that the man must have had skin of iron a kevlar vest a bulletproof ego a very sturdy…
There are some professions in which notoriety is simply unavoidable. If you are a pastor, you may stand up in front of a congregation each week and proclaim the Christian gospel. If you are a professor, you have formal engagement with students to whom you impart knowledge and teach the skills of critical thinking. If…
Dear Pastors: This is a letter to say thank you. For the messages of hope that you preach, the people you lead to Christ, the baptisms you perform, the newcomers to whom you teach the faith, the long-time churchgoers whom you nurture in the faith, thank you. Thank you for the counsel you provide to those who…
The most recent issue of Good News includes an excellent article on disability ministries. Among other things, it discusses what these ministries contribute to the life of the church, how they touch the lives of families, and some initial considerations for starting these types of programs. There’s an online version of the article here. I’m…
I’m writing a lecture for a presentation that I’m giving in Cleveland later this month on disability. Here is the primary question with which I’m wrestling: What does it mean that God chose human vulnerability as the medium through which all creation would be saved? Consider, for example, the hymn of Philippians 2:5-11. Christ had…