What follows is just what the title suggests, my personal journey with race relations as an American-born United States citizen. I was born just after the “end” of what history has come to call the Civil Rights Movement. Greenville, South Carolina, a town with its own infamous history of racial tension, was my birthplace. From […]
Read More Race Relations: My JourneyI’ve been asking myself this question recently on a number of levels. In just a moment and in unusual order, I’ll start with the answer and work backwards. First you need to know that I have been unexpectedly unemployed for the last three months. For the first time since I was 14 years old I […]
Read More What Would You Do For A Job?The other day I posted the above quote. It raised quite a bit of online and offline discussion. So much so, that I felt it could and should be discussed further. In my understanding, this quote is an analogous attempt to contrast two ideas. 1.) Churches as museums… where ideas and artifacts and histories are […]
Read More Churches As HospitalsDo good Christians doubt? The way I have heard most Christians respond to this question seems to imply that true faith seeks to resist and eliminate doubt. I find such an approach to be disingenuous, misleading, and downright destructive. Let’s talk about why.
Read More Do Good Christians Doubt?I’d like to begin by exposing my qualifications for writing on this topic. For the last 44+ years I have been trying to discover who I am. Like you, there have been times I thought I was getting close and many more moments that I simply did not have a clue. And while this is entirely […]
Read More Identity: Knowing Who You AreThe Bible is filled with commands that followers of Jesus are meant to embrace. Perhaps none is more difficult than the one found in Proverbs 3:5-6… Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do… Sounds simple, you say? I suppose at […]
Read More God’s Most Difficult CommandSo I had a mostly-written article on immigration that I started over the weekend and then on Monday evening came news from Ferguson, Missouri of the the grand jury’s decision. I opted to scrap much of what I had written and lean into the heat of the Ferguson situation, as I see them both in much the […]
Read More Ferguson and Immigration: Root v. FruitFor the last two years I have been trying to find and establish an identity that defines “re:THINK”. I have listened and written and observed your responses to conversations. As I have said from the beginning, I especially enjoy challenging followers of Jesus to reexamine, reevaluate, and re:THINK what it means to be Christian. During the […]
Read More A November ExperimentThursday afternoon near the end of my work day I stopped at a coffee shop on my route. I noticed a guy with a Bible and a few other books at a table nearby. We had a short conversation as he was leaving. Included in that exchange was my question, “Are you a pastor?” His […]
Read More You’re Not JUST A Youth PastorJesus tells His followers that… Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand! What was He saying? Contextually this […]
Read More Stay Salty My FriendsI have used this saying for years as an out-loud declaration of what I believe in my heart… and now my typical honesty. As you will readily see by the picture, physically getting family together is not always easy. I think the last all-together McQueary time was 2009. That’s not what “family first” is about (only). […]
Read More Family FirstAllow me a moment of confession. There are seasons and days and moments in my life when I don’t pray. If you’re honest with yourself (and the rest of us), you have also shared such moments and days and seasons. Because we fail to pray does not co-sign us to the pit, but neither is […]
Read More Why I Don’t Pray
re:THINK 