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Three Bible Tracks in Your Legacy

On the way to the SBC meeting in Dallas, Sharon and I stopped in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where we'd met in college at Ouachita Baptist University. While there this June, we stopped by the graves of my parents and my sister Anne. My sister Susan and I had chosen Bible passages for their grave markers, and I homed in on them as I structured a sermon for FBC, The Colony. In this connection, I lifted up the examples of my dad (Isaiah 6:9)—". . . Here am I, send me"; my mom (Joshua 24:15)—"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"; and Anne (Philippians 4:8)—"Whatsoever things are true . . . lovely . . . think on these things." The message was very heavy with illustrations from their lives, but I hope it provided good scriptural prompts for the congregants to consider what their own life-summarizing inscriptions might be. And I'm grateful to the remarkable Pastor Mark Richardson (one of my student at MBTS in the 1990s) for the invitation to preach the Sunday before the Convention.

The Colony, TX, June 8, 2025

Our Blessing In Christ

My daughter, Chesed, married into the extraordinary Broggi family. Her husband Jeremy was a White House staffer under President Bush II, and he went on to earn a law degree from Harvard, to clerk for two federal judges, and to now work as a partner in a DC law firm. They have four wonderful girls and remarkable in-laws in Carl and Audrey Broggi. As pastor of Community Bible Church in Beaufort, South Carolina, Carl has invited me preach there several times, most recently on "Our Blessings in Christ: The Promise of Isaiah 61:1-3." I've worked from that text before, but this time I used images to go with the passage.

Beaufort, SC, June 29, 2025

A Year in Review

As my year of teaching at New Saint Andrews came to a close, Lennox Kalifungwa asked me to reflect on the experience. I've much enjoyed other conversations with Lennox and appreciated the times that he's helped me with my classes, as when he led discussions one day for my "recitation" groups in philosophy. (I was down in San Diego for the Evangelical Theological Society meeting, where I read a paper on the global Anglican/Episcopal Communion. I drew on a book I edited, recounting the leadership of Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola in standing up for biblical fidelity on this issue.)

Moscow, Idaho, June 4, 2025

The Kindness of God

Each Friday, New Saint Andrews holds "Disputatio," where we all gather to hear speakers, followed by a Q&A time. Often, the floor is open to questions from the floor. Sometimes the focus is upon a one-on-one interview on stage. The topics range from the notion of holy ambition to the promise/perils of AI to actual student debates. The gathering, where upper classmen and faculty wear black robes, corresponds to what's called "chapel" at most Christian schools. But, again, this assembly is more discursive than usual. And yes, the Latin, it's big here. All the freshmen take a year of it, and our grades come out in terms of "summa" this and "laude" that. Anyway, a distinguished speaker had to cancel at the last minute to make a run to DC, so the day before, I was drafted to speak. I decided to go with a more pastoral approach, and I managed to take up the whole time, leaving no room for response. (I wasn't reluctant to field questions and comments. Just got long winded. But I think it worked out OK.)

Moscow, Idaho, April 2, 2025

CrossPolitic

I’ve enjoyed my year in Moscow, Idaho, teaching philosophy as a fill-in at New Saint Andrews College. The tasks have been invigorating and the people inspiring, not only at the school, but also in the wider community. And that community includes David Shannon (AKA “Chocolate Knox”), a host of CrossPolitic (“Christ Above Politics”). In connection with Founders Ministries, I sat for his camera at Grace Baptist, Cape Coral, FL, and at Founders events connected to the SBC annual meetings in Birmingham and Nashville. Here in Moscow, he was kind to ask me to sit in on one of his discussions, this one with Toby Sumpter, a pastor at Christ Church locally.

Moscow, Idaho, February 24, 2025

Where Beauty Dies, Culture Follows

As Digital Engagement Officer, Lennox Kalifungwa is a great addition to the New Saint Andrews College staff. He comes from Lusaka, Zambia, but spent a good deal of his life in South Africa. Along the way, he’s become a very insightful, eloquent Christian scholar and communicator. You can read a bit about him here (https://nsa.edu/contributors/lennox-kalifungwa) and some of his blogs here (https://nsa.edu/blog). I’ve had him speak to and lead discussions in several of my classes, and he was kind enough to interview me for his “Of Flames and Crowns” series. The episode (#5) is called “Where Beauty Dies, Culture Follows.” It runs about an hour.

Moscow, Idaho, January 23, 2025

This Dude Podcast

So many interesting, gratifying people in Moscow, Idaho, many of them connected with New Saint Andrews College, where I'm teaching as a fill-in this year. One of them is a remarkable young man named Jackson Crapuchettes, an NSAC grad. He interviews folks for his This Dude Podcast, and it was a pleasure to sit down with him one Saturday morning for nearly two hours in the reading room of the college library. It wasn't just a Q&A exercise, but a conversation.

Moscow, Idaho, November 3, 2024

Whither Southern Baptists?

While down in Cape Coral, Florida (beside Fort Myers) to teach a week on "Logic and Rhetoric: Reasoning and Persuading" for the Institute of Public Theology (IOPT), I sat down with Dr. Tom Ascol (Senior Pastor of Grace Baptist Church and President of Founders Ministries) to talk about the Southern Baptist Convention. Here we discuss its recent past and prospects for the future.

Cape Coral, Florida, March 19, 2024

Love Within The Church And For The Church

It's such a privilege to preach for my most-excellent daughter's most-excellent father in law, Dr. Carl Broggi, the pastor of Community Bible Church in historic Beaufort, South Carolina. Pastor Broggi came from a Catholic family in Massachusetts and went to Jesuit Boston College. But under the Lord, he found his way to Evangelical faith and thus to Dallas and Southwestern Seminaries, and then on to years of service with Campus Crusade. He leads a remarkable church, drawing on the region, but with particular service to personnel from the local Marine Corps Air Station (cf. the film, The Great Santini) and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, where countless men wearing the Globe and Anchor have gone through basic training. He and his wife Audrey have raised an exemplary family, whose children include my son-in-law, Jeremy Broggi, who served in the "W" Bush White House, earned a JD at Harvard, and has clerked for both district and circuit federal judges in DC. Carl and Audrey's daughter, GraceAnna, is married to Grant Castleberry, an SBTS grad, who pastors a church in Raleigh, North Carolina. On this occasion, I preached from the Love Chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, with special application to the church.

Beaufort, SC, January 21, 2024