Huge Backlash From LifeWay Decision to Pull Magazine

Higher-ups at the world's largest Christian publisher and retailer, LifeWay Christian Resources, decided to pull a magazine from the shelves of over 100 stores and all hell broke loose. It all started when GospelToday Magazine decided to profile 5 women pastors in this months cover story. LifeWay, whose parent entity, The Southern Baptist Convention, has a standing, non-binding resolution against women pastors, reacted by pulling all the magazines off their shelves. Then, a fierce backlash ensued typified in Roland Martin's CNN.com article entitled "Christian Bookstore's Shameful Actions." 

In response, I posted "Behind the Counters" on Neue Quarterly's website, which highlighted both sides of this issue.

Check it out and answer the following questions:

Should women be in ministry in your opinion?

What do you think of LifeWay's decision?

Post-Convention Pastoring

This year's political conventions were the most memorable of any in my recent memory. The first black Presidential nominee, potentially the first female Vice-President, the gulf storms completely altering the first day of the Republican convention and an unprecedented amount of tech-heavy fanfare across the board.

Normally, political hoopla of this magnitude will be paralleled by public, political posturing by some of America's most prominent Christian leaders. But this year may be different. In the last year or two, many Christians have reacted against "the over-politicization of the American Church." (I could cite many articles and books like the recent bestseller Unchristian and We the Purple.) This year, I think many people hope that Church leaders will take the opportunity to react differently than in the past.

This is the thrust of my article for the newly-launched ministry quarterly, Neue, entitled, Post-Convention Pastoring. In it, I encourage those of us in ministry to "lead like Jesus" by avoiding partisan posturing and, instead, sticking to the issues and values that Jesus promoted.

Take a minute to read the article and let me know your thoughts and opinions.