End-times prophets say we’re about to find out aliens are demons
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on May 8, 2026. “The rumors are real,” pastor Mike Signorelli wrote on X. “I was brought into a private briefing with other pastors. No phones, no cameras, no recordings. We were told plainly: Disclosure is coming, and what follows will shake the faith of many. If pastors […]
When flat earthers and creationists find common ground
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on December 29, 2024. It was hyped as “The Final Experiment.” Led by pastor Will Duffy of Agape Kingdom Fellowship in Wheat Ridge, Colo., a group of people who believed in a flat earth and others who believed in a global earth traveled to Union Glacier, Antarctica, together on […]
Of gay penguins, the Grand Canyon, the Ark and the Scopes trial
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on September 6, 2024. As the 100-year anniversary of the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial approaches, the scientific community has had an entire century to explore our world and then sharpen and share their discoveries through peer review. But young earth creationists are still stuck using the same tactics […]
Can’t a solar eclipse just be a solar eclipse?
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on March 27, 2024. With echoes of “You’re so vain; you probably think the Bible’s about you,” today’s conservative American conspiracy theorists are raising money for Christian broadcasters by claiming the upcoming solar eclipse is a prophetic word from God revealed in the stars and in the Scriptures […]
Must we change our language to reach climate change deniers?
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on September 19 2023. How can journalists reach evangelicals who get triggered by the term “climate change”? This is the question Rebecca Randall asks in a piece last week for BioLogos. Despite the fact that 97% of scientists accept climate science and 92% of Americans who identify as “highly religious” […]
Creation and the environment: ‘Where does God fit into all this?’
This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on May 1, 2023. A couple of months ago, I attended a gathering with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and had the opportunity to be a part of a Q&A session with him afterward. One elderly woman asked him, “Where does God fit into all this?” Tyson began his […]
BioLogos Integrate helps us make all things new while beginning where we’re at
This piece was paid for by BioLogos Integrate. However, the opinions expressed within are my own and include my thoughts about the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum. At the heart of Christian theology is the story of a God who meets humanity where we are at by entering into our world, wearing our skin, […]
Why you don’t need to play a drinking game to understand the wonder of the James Webb Space Telescope’s first images
This article originally appeared on July 18, 2022 at Baptist News Global. A moment more than 13 billion years in the making happened last Tuesday as the James Webb Space Telescope revealed its first five images to the world. Hailed by NASA as “the dawn of a new era in astronomy,” the images revealed a deep field of […]
What has John MacArthur actually said about race, slavery and the Curse of Ham?
This article originally appeared on June 20, 2022 at Baptist News Global. “This whole genealogical effort could lead to a new genre of bumper stickers, I think, like ‘My forefathers were Philistines’ or like ‘Goliath was in my family’ or ‘I come from a long line of Hittite kings’ or here’s a good one, ‘My […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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.”
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 […]
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.
How Modern Science Evolves Our Theology of Church and Culture
This article originally appeared on June 8, 2020 at Medium. It was a paper that I submitted for a class at Northern Seminary. In our previous article, we looked at how the Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, and Anabaptist traditions have seen the relationship between church and culture. Each of these traditions were rooted in an origin story […]
Four Views of Church and Culture
This article originally appeared on June 7, 2020 on Medium. It was a paper that I submitted for a class at Northern Seminary. Bob Dylan once said that popular culture “was like the unbroken sea of frost that lay outside the window and you had to have awkward footgear to walk on it.” His lyrics […]
Loving Our Lonely Exile
This article originally appeared on March 23, 2020 at Worship Overflow and reflects my desires at the time for churches entering into the Covid-19 pandemic. One of my deepest wounds that I’ve carried in life has been the wound of identifying with lonely exile. Last year, as I was talking about my career and ministry […]
Scientifically Precise Worship
This article originally appeared on March 16, 2020 at BioLogos. It was an interview about my album, “Consider the Stars.” “Creativity is the force of the imagination being formed into something true and beautiful by the world’s constraints. You can see it is a sufficient generalization of both science and art,” explains Tom McLeish, the author […]