Posts by Don Johnson
Behind the Curve on Current Trends
Do you ever get the feeling that the world is inexplicably speeding past you, just when you thought you had caught up with all the current terms? Only to find out that what you finally understand is so… really “last decade”, not merely “last year”? Some years ago, at pastors’ meetings, we heard presentations on…
Read MoreShould I Hang My Head over My Heritage?
I sometimes take the occasion to write a July 1 post for Proclaim & Defend because, as a Canadian, I have an inner compulsion (no doubt driven by our national angst) to remind the world (i.e. my American friends) that I am different from you all. (See, I can’t even do “y’all” right.) Kidding aside,…
Read MoreWhy We Opposed an Anti-Abortion Resolution at the Southern Baptist Convention – Public Discourse
Southern Baptists have not at all diminished in their resolve to “contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death,” and we have declared that resolve time and time again over the years. That resolve is why Southern Baptists affirmed two anti-abortion resolutions at this year’s convention as well—one defending the…
Read More100th FBFI Annual Fellowship Conference begins Today
And, I, alas, will not be present. The Covid-19 pandemic wiped out our plans last summer, so our 100th conference occurs this year, rather than last year. However, some restrictions remain in place internationally. Canada’s border restrictions make it impossible for me to attend. I wish I could be there. The FBFI truly is a…
Read MoreResources on Manhood and Womanhood
This week our theme came to be the roles of men and women in our various relationships, especially concerning ordination to Christian ministry. Recent controversy in the Southern Baptist Convention gave the impetus for these articles. Here are our contributions for this week: Ordination of Women: Some Issues Just Won’t Go Away by Jeff Straub…
Read MoreWalk by the Spirit
The “fruit of the Spirit” passage is one of those so familiar to us that we often take little time to think about it. When we do think about it, we concentrate on getting all the terms just so. We are either blowing past it in our Bible reading or analyzing it to the nth…
Read MoreWhy American Church Membership Is Plummeting
Much of what we know—or think we know—about American religion is shaped by surveys and polls. The news media loves these polls, and so do many pastors. The latest instance is a Gallup poll showing that, for the first time in eight decades of polling on the issue, less than 50 percent of Americans “said…
Read MoreWhere Is Your Joy?
In Galatians 5, the last point of the chapter discusses walking in the Spirit (Gal 5.16-26). A major point of that discussion is “the fruit of the Spirit” in vv. 22-23. Preaching through the passage, a list like this gives me a glorious opportunity to slow right down in my usual “glacial” method of Bible…
Read MoreLet My People Go! (to Church)
Those of us pastoring churches in Canada find it strange to have American’s paying attention to the goings on around here. Part of the big story of the last year (the Covid Crisis) is the arrest of Canadian pastor James Coates in Alberta for defying Public Health orders. On Proclaim & Defend, we’ve covered the…
Read MoreWho Is Running the Zoo Now?
By now you have heard, no doubt, that Dr. Seuss Enterprises withdrew six Dr. Seuss titles from publication because “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.” The announcement came on March 2, which happens to be Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America Day. Ironically, Read Across America Day occurs on…
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