Q & A: John Piper on Racism, Reconciliation, and Theology after Trayvon Martin’s Death @ChristianityToday

John Piper was one of the first and the few white evangelical pastors to make a public statement on the controversial shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin. Not only is his passion for racial reconciliation informed by… Read More

What I Wrote This Week @UrbanFaith: February 13 – February 17

On Location at Whitney’s Farewell: What reporting on location at Whitney Houston’s semi-private, gospel-filled funeral taught me about spiritual battles, grace, and celebrity. Marriage Is for Black People, Too: Ralph Richards Banks’ book ‘Is Marriage for White People?’ made him… Read More

What I Wrote This Week @UrbanFaith: January 9-13

Religion Wins Big; Pastors Protest Loss: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that religious schools can fire ministers and more New York City pastors were arrested while protesting fallout from the court’s decision not to hear a Bronx church’s appeal…. Read More

Lifelong Ocean Grove Resident Takes Helm of Camp Meeting Association @NJShorePatch

Dr. Dale C. Whilden succeeds Scott Rasmussen (who ended his six-year term in mid-October) as president of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. Whilden is a life-long Ocean Grove resident. He has served as an OGCMA Trustee since 1983 and… Read More

Photojournalism by Explorations Media, L.L.C.

I’ve recently created what I think are some compelling photo sets on Flickr. As a journalist, I prefer realism to photo-shopped images, though artistic renderings can sometimes reveal truth better than fact. I recommend viewing these sets as slideshows, as… Read More

What I Wrote This Week @UrbanFaith: September 12-16

Truth at a Beauty Pageant: Miss Universe winner Leila Lopes of Angola highlights her nation’s troubles, says she’s happy with the way God made her, and declares racism so last century. Is her win redemptive? Psalms for Poverty Statistics: The… Read More

9/11 Lessons in Civil Religion @NJShorePatch

Inter-faith messages remind Monmouth County residents who they are. In Jean-Jacque Rousseau’s model of civil religion, the state is unified and strengthened by public displays of faith that refer to deity, point to the afterlife, draw attention to the… Read More

What I Wrote This Week @UrbanFaith: September 5-9

How Did 9/11 Change Urban Ministry? With the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in mind, Christian leaders Jeremy Del Rio, DeForest Soaries, and Shane Claiborne reflect on how 9/11 changed urban ministry in America. Clergy… Read More

Jersey Shore Faithful to Commemorate 9/11 Anniversary @NJShorePatch

Sacred remembrances dominate the weekend calendar. Mayor Michael Bloomberg may have excluded clergy from the 9/11 10th anniversary ceremony at the memorial site in New York City, but there are plenty of opportunities here at the Jersey Shore for sacred remembrances. Here are… Read More

Listening to 9/11 Stories at @NJShorePatch

Two women recall their close encounters with those devastated by the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks. Mary Mick Davis The first time I saw Mary Davis in the spring of 2002, she was wearing a hard hat and overseeing a… Read More

Only a Number Takes Top Prize at Jersey Shore Film Festival @NJ Shore Patch

Steven Besserman shares his ailing mother’s Holocaust memories in award winning documentary. “A17855: This became my only identity. This was Auschwitz,” Aranka Besserman says in the film tribute to her memories of the Holocaust that her son Steven Besserman… Read More

Faith at Work, Part 7: Putting It All Together @TheHighCalling

Figuring out how to integrate our faith with our work is a primary interest for the High Calling community. In our series about the work of Laity Leadership Institute Senior Fellow David W. Miller, we learned about four… Read More