Plagiarism is the least thing to worry about with Voddie Baucham, who is a threat to children, women and daughters
This article originally appeared on March 7, 2022 at Baptist News Global. After Baptist News Global broke the news that Voddie Baucham was being asked to accept a nomination to become the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Theobros could hardly contain their excitement. Owen Strachan tweeted: “What Voddie saw TEN YEARS AGO, many evangelicals still refuse to see. […]
How to talk with your kids about porn without sending them straight to hell
This article originally appeared on February 24, 2022 at Baptist News Global. The first time I saw pornography was at a public school playground during summer break when I was 8. I had ridden my bike over to the school to play, when a couple teenage boys called me over and said they wanted to show […]
Interview: “What’s Missing From the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Podcast?”
Check out my interview on the Gravity Leadership Podcast! EPISODE DESCRIPTION: “Many have listened with great interest to the Christianity Today podcast The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill,exposing the leadership abuses of Mark Driscoll and the fallout among the members of his church. On this episode we will take a closer look at how […]
A response to Tish Harrison Warren about livestreaming worship
This article originally appeared on February 1, 2022 at Baptist News Global. “I think it’s time to drop the virtual option,” says Tish Harrison Warren in an op-ed for the New York Times, arguing that churches should stop livestreaming their services. She explains: “Bodies, with all the risk, danger, limits, mortality and vulnerability that they bring, are […]
This is a tale of testicles, fertility, the length of men’s hair, and one bizarre tweet
This article originally appeared on January 24, 2022 at Baptist News Global. Owen Strachan woke up on Martin Luther King Jr. Day with decades of injustice weighing heavily on his mind: Men with long hair. Strachan, who is former president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and is now provost and research professor of […]
How a student’s fashion design project upset the created order at Bob Jones University
This article originally appeared on January 18, 2022 at Baptist News Global. Let’s call this controversy Wrap-Coat-Gate. Trustees and administrators at Bob Jones University recently grew so alarmed over a wrap coat designed by a student for a class project that they publicly called the student’s work sacrilegious, blasphemous, dishonoring to Jesus, offensive, and egregious. […]
Beth Moore is not the first Baptist to journey to the Anglican Church
This article originally appeared on January 5, 2022 at Baptist News Global. When Beth Moore left the Southern Baptist Convention in 2021 and soon after was seen in a photo serving Communion at an Anglican church, the social media outrage became a reminder that few people seem to rile up Southern Baptist and conservative evangelical TheoBros as much […]
Tim Tebow and Demaryius Thomas and the world we see
This article originally appeared on December 20, 2021 at Baptist News Global. After having what will one day be recognized as a Hall of Fame NFL career, Demaryius Thomas died unexpectedly of what police are calling “a medical issue” in his Georgia home on Dec. 9, 2021. He would have turned 34 on Christmas Day. As […]
The weakness of complementarian theology on display in Duggar trial
This article originally appeared on December 9, 2021 at Baptist News Global. As we reflect back on 2021, one theme will be how three of the major conservative evangelical denominations have become compromised by sexual abuse and sexual abuse coverups. The Presbyterian Church in America became embroiled in a scandal over the past couple years when a […]
BNG column sparks Thanksgiving Twitter war of words between complementarians and two female scholars
This article originally appeared on November 29, 2021 at Baptist News Global. When David Gushee wrote his article “The Deconstruction of American Evangelicalism” for Baptist News Global, he kicked off what would become the focus of the next stage in the debate between conservative evangelical complementarians and their egalitarian counterparts. That debate took the form of […]
Interview: “Josh Harris, Evangelicalism, and Deconstruction, with Rick Pidcock”
Check out my interview on the Full Mutuality podcast! EPISODE DESCRIPTION: “Author and musician Rick Pidcock joins the show to share his thoughts on Christianity Today‘s podcast, ‘The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill,’ evangelicalism’s take on deconstruction and the ex-evangelical phenomenon, and the platforming of former evangelical pastor Josh Harris. You can read Rick’s […]
What if Thanksgiving were a time to celebrate the natural creation?
This article originally appeared on November 23, 2021 at Baptist News Global. Christian churches in the United States often take advantage of national holidays to communicate particular theological points. For example, Memorial Day and Veterans Day provide opportunities to celebrate the idea of Jesus sacrificing his life on the Cross for spiritual freedom. Independence Day triggers […]
The Way Down is about the weight of power being wielded by a hierarchical God
This article originally appeared on November 18, 2021 at Baptist News Global. It was an overcast morning near Smyrna, Tenn., as a small Cessna private jet abruptly descended toward the earth. Seven people on board, who had been looking forward to a trip to Palm Beach, Fla., were now taking their final breaths. And as the […]
The five pillars of conservative evangelical Calvinism that are incompatible with love
This article originally appeared on November 12, 2021 at Baptist News Global. The majority of my adult life has been spent within the conservative evangelical Calvinistic world of Desiring God, Grace to You, Ligonier and The Gospel Coalition. Having grown up in the rules-focused world of the independent, fundamental Baptists, these ministries provided a much-needed relief […]
Book Review: “Why Is There Suffering?” by Bethany Sollereder
During my time at Northern Seminary, two of the most impactful theological insights for me had to do with learning to recognize my theological assumptions and examining the consequences of my beliefs. In her new book, Why Is There Suffering: Pick Your Own Theological Expedition, Bethany Sollereder provides a brilliant path for exploring how our theological […]
As Facebook evolves to Meta, what is the future of consciousness and control?
This article originally appeared on November 3, 2021 at Baptist News Global. On the heels of the recent whistleblower accusations against Facebook, the social media company has decided to change its primary organizational name and logo. Founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted the irony of the name-change timing during the launch of Meta, Facebook’s new parent company brand. “With […]
The Evolution of Consciousness and Modern Worship
This article originally appeared on September 27, 2021 at The Center for Christogenesis. The sound of a thousand people singing filled the room in perfect sync with the driving sound of the band. As we sang and played, my eyes looked around the room. These were people whose stories I knew. As a worship leader, […]
How did an openly queer artist climb to No. 1 on the Christian music charts?
This article originally appeared on September 27, 2021 at Baptist News Global. The openly queer Christian artist Semler was elated to report the breaking news that the parking attendant at a Switchfoot concert supports gay rights. And that wouldn’t be the only surprise of the night. As they drove to their parking space, Semler joked about how huge […]
Reimagining the ‘kingdom’ of God as something other than an ancient hierarchy
This article originally appeared on September 13, 2021 at Baptist News Global. One of my biggest disconnections with the Bible is regarding its kingdom language. I totally understand why the biblical authors used it. It was how people back then thought about ultimate reality. So, of course, God would be talked about as the ultimate king. […]
Knocking down the straw man of theological liberalism
This article originally appeared on August 30, 2021 at Baptist News Global. One of the growing frustrations many deconstructing Christians, ex-evangelicals, liberationist and liberal theologians share is how conservative organizations like The Gospel Coalition constantly misrepresent us through “straw man” fallacies. In the field of logic, a “straw man” is when somebody twists or exaggerates another […]
I lived in the culture of ‘The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill,’ and there’s one part of the story that’s wrong
This article originally appeared on August 24, 2021 at Baptist News Global. The more people talked about Christianity Today’s new podcast, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, the more I knew I eventually would need to listen to it. In 2004, my wife and I left our families and friends behind to move across the country and […]
Coffee, conversation and Christianity go together like cups and saucers
This article originally appeared on August 20, 2021 at Baptist News Global. Across the American South, it’s hard to sit in a coffee shop anywhere and not overhear a Bible study or a conversation about Christian faith. America’s obsession with coffee — whether from Starbucks or the hippest new local spot — has spilled over to […]
Is there a balm in singing the spirituals, and if so, who should sing them?
This article originally appeared on August 11, 2021 at Baptist News Global. In the heart of the Bloomfield neighborhood in Macon, Ga., our Baptist church and school served as the place where 300 white people came every Sunday for church and throughout the week for school. On Sunday, we had a bus ministry that provided a […]
Pastor Greg Locke is all over the internet spreading conspiracies; here’s why you shouldn’t believe him
This article originally appeared on August 2, 2021 at Baptist News Global. Two years before he divorced his wife of 21 years and married his secretary, pastor Greg Locke rose to internet fame through a Facebook video decrying the morality of Target restroom policies that allowed people to use the restroom they felt expressed their correct gender. He said in […]
From purity pledges to the Equality Act: How evangelical concern about sex has shifted and what it has to do with creation
When more than 200,000 evangelical purity pledges were being planted at the National Mall in 1994 at the height of the True Love Waits movement, nobody would have imagined that the next 25 years would bring about a total revolution in how Americans viewed same-sex marriage. While at the time — now 25 years ago — just 27% of […]
Seminary provides safe space to engage difficult questions
This article was based on an interview I gave to Northern Seminary and originally appeared on July 26, 2021 at Northern Seminary. When Rick Pidcock decided to go to seminary, he was actually on a journey away from pursuing church leadership. He was also going through a challenging season of deconstructing his faith. Before applying […]
While we’re talking about guns in America, let’s talk about our fear-based theology that also drives gun sales
This article originally appeared on July 19, 2021 at Baptist News Global. The sound of skidding tires filled the air as the car spun around, the window rolled down, and an arm reached out. It wasn’t until the third shot that I realized that I was staring down the barrel of a gun. With nowhere to […]
Desire to validate the Bible makes Christians easy prey for archaeological forgeries
This article originally appeared on July 13, 2021 at Baptist News Global. The early morning air breathes hot on her face as archaeologist Cynthia Shafer-Elliott picks up her trowel to begin her work she describes as “not for the fainthearted.” Before her stands a mound of dirt, otherwise known as a “tel,” that holds within itself […]
Lessons learned during the pandemic as a parent who found joy in the desert
This article originally appeared on July 7, 2021 at Baptist News Global. Months ago, we sat around the wooden table in our booth, enjoying our food and reminding our kids to be mindful of the other customers around us. With five kids under the age of 10, it isn’t an everyday experience to be able to […]
Meet the Theobros, who want you to know they’re right about everything
This article originally appeared on June 28, 2021 at Baptist News Global. In this world of spiritual warfare, theological compromise and Republicans losing the White House, there lives a group of men, mostly white, who put on their armor, saddle up and ride into the glorious battlefield known as Twitter. They alone wear the belt of […]
How could God command the violent murder and plundering of Israel’s neighbors?
This article originally appeared on June 26, 2021 at Medium. For one of my seminary classes, we had to write a pastoral letter to someone about the commands in the Hebrew Bible for Israel to kill their neighbors. We were given a number of academic resources that we were to interact with to explore how […]
The role of seminaries in guiding ex-evangelicals like me through deconstruction
This article originally appeared on June 24, 2021 at Baptist News Global. Over the past decade, evangelicals have had to come to terms with the fact that people are leaving the church in droves. According to a recent Gallup poll, just 47% of Americans are members of a church, falling from 70% in 1999. This decline in […]
With all this talk of UFO’s, what’s a Christian to think?
This article originally appeared on June 8, 2021 at Baptist News Global. As senior airman Derek Tarr was flying over the Adriatic Sea in 1999, he suddenly realized he was being followed by a bright light. “We started into a turn and as I look back, it’s just a bright white orb. It was bouncing almost […]
Interview: “Deconstruction: ‘Spiritual Growth or Apostasy?’ with Keith Giles”
“A flurry of new books have hit the market to define the phenomenon of Nones & Dones known to some as Deconstruction. The Gospel Coalition, a Reformed Ministry source, has released, Before You Lose Your Faith: Deconstructing Doubt in the Church, in an attempt to shape thought and focus on the individual and excuse the […]
Interview: “An Economic and Theological Conversation of ‘The Value of Nothing’ by Raj Patel: Part Two”
In this conversation, I talk with Dr. Jacob Robinson, who is one of my professors about the book “The Value of Nothing: How to reshape market society and redefine democracy” by Raj Patel. In our conversation, we each gave the other five quotes from Part One of the book that resonated with us. And then […]
Interview: “An Economic and Theological Conversation of ‘The Value of Nothing’ by Raj Patel: Part One”
In this conversation, I talk with Dr. Jacob Robinson, who is one of my professors about the book “The Value of Nothing: How to reshape market society and redefine democracy” by Raj Patel. In our conversation, we each gave the other five quotes from Part One of the book that resonated with us. And then […]
American Christianity in China also imports gender bias and Calvinism
This article originally appeared on April 9, 2021 at Baptist News Global. Imagine if America’s coalition of conspiracy theorist, cowboy Christianity had colonized its way into the world of international politics and sexual abuse cover-ups under the guise of spreading the gospel. Research scholar Mary Li Ma believes this isn’t an imaginary scenario, but a very real one […]
Consider the trees: A Holy Week reflection on looking up
This article originally appeared on April 1, 2021 at Baptist News Global. I sat on my front porch as the cool morning breeze gently lifted the leaves from the grasp of the trees and carried them to their death. Winter was coming. Seasons would change, and new life would be born again after the cold passed. […]
Oprah’s interview with Meghan and Harry offers a lesson on when the ‘institution’ is the church
This article originally appeared on March 15, 2021 at Baptist News Global. As Bishop Curry spoke about the power of love during Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding in 2018, having recently joined the Anglican Communion myself, my heart was full. But when I watched Oprah’s interview with Harry and Meghan last week, I was stunned at […]
Interview: “The Bible Says What!? Episode 91: :The Invisible Forward Moving Power with Rick Pidcock”
“The Bible Says What!? is an atheist vs. Christian style podcast that captures my one on one conversations with religious leaders from across the globe.”
What if we cared about Black History Month as much as Lent?
This article originally appeared on February 23, 2021 at Baptist News Global. Growing up in the ’80s and ’90s as an independent Baptist in an all-white church, the first 20 Februarys of my life came and went without any awareness of either Lent or Black History Month. Liturgy was considered something the evil Catholics did. And […]
Think you understand what it’s like to live on minimum wage? Here’s my story.
This article originally appeared on January 26, 2021 at Baptist News Global. Two weeks before I got married, I lost my job delivering pizzas because I had gotten three tickets for minor traffic violations over the previous two years. So when we got back from our honeymoon, I landed a job working at another fast food […]
Postcards from Babylon-A Review by Rick Pidcock
This article originally appeared on January 17, 2021 at Patheos. The new Postcards from Babylon documentary comes out on January 21. And I had the opportunity to screen it for a review. But I wanted to share some additional reflections from a section later in the documentary where a number of soldiers begin to process […]
‘Postcards from Babylon’ documentary tells a better story
This article originally appeared on January 14, 2021 at Baptist News Global. White conservative evangelicalism had just survived its perceived nightmare of the Obama presidency. They were certain that contraception mandates, cake-baking mandates, transgender people being free to use the restroom for their gender identity, and ultimately the legalization of same-sex-marriage were threats to their religious […]
Of wonders and wounds, cloister gardens and chasmic Christianity
This article originally appeared on January 5, 2021 at Baptist News Global. The day I walked out of church, I had just finished assisting our children’s church lesson about how God created the world in six literal days. God had put the first two humans in a garden with one rule, and then sent them into […]
American Gospel: Christ Crucified is stuck in a time warp
This article originally appeared on December 28, 2020 at Baptist News Global. Based on the heated responses I’ve received to my review of the first American Gospel: Christ Alone documentary, I began to realize I should review producer Brandon Kimber’s second film, American Gospel: Christ Crucified. Kimber had read my first review and reached out to me, and despite […]
What the Big Bang and wholeness have taught me about Facebook
This article originally appeared on November 25, 2020 at Baptist News Global. In the fall of 2009, I finally gave in and signed my life over to Facebook. I figured it would be a great way to reconnect with friends and family. Over time, I began to enjoy sharing my thoughts on theology, politics and sports. […]
Interview: “Hope after Deconstruction: One Man’s Journey”
Writer, Musician, Stay-At-Home Dad shares his journey from Evangelical Certainty through doubt and despair and back to hope in Christ. Join Kristine Johnson and John James Kirkwood in this full interview with Rick Pidcock, as they discuss the pitfalls of Young Earth Creation, Calvinism, Eternal Conscious Torment, and more.
My journey from being a young-earth Creationist, Dispensationalist Republican to seeing my neighbor as worthy of my vote
This article originally appeared on October 27, 2020 at Baptist News Global. My body was tense as I sat in the white-walled classroom of my Baptist high school in Middle Georgia. With the sounds of pretend canons firing at the Civil War reenactment across the street, I listened to my teacher tell us about how President […]
Worship event at National Mall illustrates merger of evangelical music and politics
This article originally appeared on September 29, 2020 at Baptist News Global. It was billed as a worship rally, but it could have been a political rally. Last Saturday, Sept. 26, nearly 100,000 evangelicals gathered at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the stated purpose of worshiping God. They were led by Vice President Mike Pence speaking and by Michael W. Smith in singing. Among […]