Month: May 2021

Corcoran, 8 others to be interviewed for Florida State University presidency

Corcoran was the only finalist who received some skepticism from committee members Tuesday. If selected, he would become the third former House speaker to lead the university during the past two decades, following Thrasher and the late T.K. Wetherell. Also, the late Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, who served as president before Wetherell, was a former lawmaker. ... Read More

I Got Ordained So I Can Talk About Jesus. Not the Female Pastor Debate.

As a woman priest, I’m tired of a political battle that distracts from the gospel. Rick Warren’s Saddleback church recently made headlines by ordaining three female leaders. I was grateful to see these women recognized and lent both the public authority and institutional accountability that comes from ordination. But when I read the news, I also thought with a heavy sigh, “Oh, here we go again.” I knew the debate about women’s roles in the church would dominate... Read More

The Way of the Shepherd: The Biblical Foundation of Church and Church Discipline

Church discipline is an essential, often overlooked, and frequently misunderstood part of healthy congregational life. Church discipline. Those two words can bring a multitude of feelings and images to the reader who has had any experience with it. Frequently, people associate church discipline with "church hurt," evoking negative emotions of harsh, judgmental treatment which can cause division and church splits. On the other side, believers see discipline as something that... Read More

‘Be Clean’: Jesus and the World of Ritual Impurity

These biblical commands rightly remind us about the significance of our bodies. In his best-selling book, The Year of Living Biblically, secular Jew A. J. Jacobs endeavors to follow biblical laws literally for a year. His escapades with mixed fabrics, stoning Sabbath-breakers, handling serpents, and honoring widows are enthralling and often sidesplitting, and they led to a CBS sitcom spinoff. In one entry, he explains his attempt to avoid the ritual impurity associated with genital... Read More

Most long-term care facilities meet Florida’s backup power requirements

The emergency requirements drew legal challenges from long-term care industry associations but eventually were replaced by a pair of permanent rules. Because the mandate to have generators was expensive, the Legislature had to ratify the rules. According to a legislative staff analysis at the time, the mandate was expected to cost $121,380,545 for the nursing-home industry and $243,912,720 for assisted living facilities in the first five years. ... Read More

Burkina Faso’s 7 Army Chaplains Struggle Amid Jihadist Attacks

Once considered a beacon of peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims, the West African nation has been embroiled in unprecedented extremist violence. In the more than 15 years Salomon Tibiri has been offering spiritual succor as a military pastor in Burkina Faso, he’s never fielded so many calls from anxious soldiers and their relatives as in recent years, when the army found itself under attack by Islamic extremist fighters. “Before the crisis there was more... Read More