CONFESSIONS OF A STARBUCKS PASTOR

It saddens me to learn that Franklin Graham is being openly attacked by other Christian leaders. In a social media post, I read that they have even forgiven him. If you are not familiar with Samaritan Purse founder, Reverand Franklin Graham perhaps you have heard of his famous father, Billy? Billy Graham is probably one of the most well-known evangelistic preachers in the world, having spent time with every President since Harry Truman. Billy loves God, period. He is a-political and has spent his adult life traveling the world bringing his simple message to millions of people that God sent his son, Jesus Christ to die for our sins so that if we believe that, we will inherit eternal life. Son Franklin has become more visible as Billy ages. Franklin is also a humanitarian, traveling the world to provide tangible care for the persecuted and impoverished. Billy did not speak about politics, but Franklin does. More and more as the threat of ISIS continues to explode and our current pres...

When we are at the grocery store, we can expect an unknown cashier to ask us how we are. Even the someone we are only slightly acquainted with who is just walking by and says "How are you?" as if it were really just a "Hello". They don't stick around to hear your answer, or if they do the only answer expected is a single word in the positive range. If by chance you are in pain, they didn't time their Q to stand by and hear some tale. So, most people respond just as insincerely with "fine." My pet peeve used to be this: people asking a question when they don't care or don't plan to engage in a conversation. As a young adult, I would almost bare fangs when this insincere "question" was lobbed my way. Now, I ignore it because I know that it translates (in North America anyway) as a longer version of "hello". I just give a big smile and agree by saying "hello" back. I've come to believe that this level of...

This sentence has been said to me hundreds of times in the past 15 years. It refers to a person's experience at a church. If we were to be honest, we've all probably said that at one time or another for any number of reasons. The music was too loud. The songs were too long. The sermon was too short. The sermon was too long. They had a band. There were drums. There weren't any hymns. There were hymns. They collected money. They met in a school. They didn't have an organ. They had an organ. The pastor didn't wear a robe. The pastor wore a robe. There were women in leadership. People dressed up. People didn't dress up. The band wore jeans. The pastor wore jeans. They showed a movie clip. The teaching was from the Bible. They didn't talk enough about the Bible. Someone had a beard. They danced. They had communion. They didn't have pews. Children were in the service. Children weren't in the service. You could bring your Starbucks mocha in with you. They...