We need to listen to the stories of missionary kids. Holly Berkley Fletcher released an amazing book called Missionary Kids that I read all in one sitting. I was riveted. Holly grew up as a missionary kid. And she interviewed a whole bunch of missionary kids, some...
God is not just an angry magazine cover in the sky He's not there saying, "here's 7 ways you could smarten up so you don't disappoint me so much." But that's often how we picture God--so terribly disappointed in us! Today's American Thanksgiving, so lots of my regular...
Complementarians often use pretty words to obscure what they believe. They say things like "men are meant to be the protectors!", or "men bear the burden of responsibility" or "we are all equal, but we just have different roles." But when you break down what they're...
Is it really a woman's role to pretend like everything is okay? To see her life as just being about surrender, as if her needs don't matter? We're going to look at some typical advice that's given to women in the evangelical church, and show how this can actually lead...
How do egalitarian and complementarian seminaries differ in how they do gender? Stained Glass Ceilings by Lisa Weaver Swartz is a fascinating book. She interviewed people at two different seminaries--Asbury Seminary and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary--to see...
Are women divorcing left and right for no reason? Lately I've seen an uptick on social media sharing two "facts": Women initiate 70% of divorces In 75% of those divorces, "lack of commitment" is the reason for divorce The conclusion being made is that women are fickle...
I first heard of Naghmeh Panahi when she was campaigning to get her husband Saeed, a pastor, released from an Iranian prison. I saw her on the news, and heard about the prayer vigils, and even took part. Perhaps you did too. And then I remember vaguely the chaos as he...
What does the Enneagram have to say about your marriage? I'm a total personality test geek. My mom spent a lot of her career utilizing different personality tools in her business consulting role going in to talk about corporate change, and she was really big on the...
Has modern Christianity become an echo chamber? And is that leading us to have super bad takes on many issues that are really important? Today we're taking a look at a theme that we've noticed in evangelicalism: anti-intellectualism, and a denial of science and...
Terran Williams is a pastor whose life was upended when he was assigned a "simple" task. He was working at a large church in South Africa when he was assigned the task of writing up their position paper on complementarianism. They all believed it, but they didn't...
It's time to debunk obligation sex once and for all. The most common question I get on social media is how to respond to obligation sex messages--"But what do you say about 1 Corinthians 7, do not deprive?" "But what do I do if pastors tell me it's a sin to withhold...
One of the books that women report is most harmful to them is For Women Only. When we analyzed 13 of evangelicalism's sex & marriage best-sellers when writing The Great Sex Rescue, For Women Only scored 11/48, ranking 11/13--so the third worst, in front of only...
Do complementarian men do best? That's what Nancy Pearcey says in her new book The Toxic War on Masculinity! Men who believe that marriage is a hierarchy and that men should get the final decisions (complementarians) do best. This is the podcast (and the op ed) that...
Should we endure suffering because it makes us holy? We have a distorted view of suffering in the church today, and it keeps so many women feeling guilty for wanting to make their lives better. Why don't you just put up with what you've got, because look what Jesus...
We finally saw the Barbie Movie! Keith and I, along with my mom and my son-in-law, went to see the Barbie movie last weekend! Rebecca and Connor saw it on opening night, but with vacations and sicknesses and other stuff Keith and I haven't been able to see it until...