I left home, in Nashville, Tenn., for the Air Force when I was 23. Other than for two brief years working as a business reporter for The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville, I have been gone from my homeland for the entire time. That would be 43 years (now I have given away my age!). When one lives far from home, it is rare to get home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mom has always insisted on Christmas. So I have made it home for Christmas every year, but one since I left home. Santa … [Read more...]

“To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to be ever a child.” – Cicero One of the passions of The Pathway staff is our love for history. Especially the history of Christianity, but also of the world, of America, of the church, of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and the Missouri Baptist Convention. Our love for history is derived from Scripture, since God is the author of history, the Alpha and Omega. I have always been interested in history. A considerable percentage … [Read more...]

One of the great blessings in the ministry to which God has called me is the opportunity to know a multitude of faithful brothers in Christ who are veterans, true leaders with impeccable integrity, intellectual giftedness, courage, unselfishness and loyalty. As a veteran, I have come to appreciate the observance of Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11. Not because I am a veteran, but because of the veterans I have had the privilege of knowing. Each were willing to give their last, full measure of … [Read more...]

“My creed leads me to think that prayer is efficacious, and surely a day’s asking God to overrule all events for good is not lost.” – James Gilmour I hope we can agree that if there was ever a time we should be praying for our nation it is now. Sickness and strife are driving America to its knees. Let us make good use of such posture. E.M. Bounds wrote a classic on the subject, titled On Prayer. He writes: “The prayers of God’s saints are the capital stock in heaven by which Christ … [Read more...]

It has been a decade since an attempt to change how Missouri selects its judges – especially the ones serving on the Missouri Supreme Court. The way we select and retain our judges is known as The Missouri Plan. Adopted in 1940, the goal was to remove politics from the judicial selection process. It is failing. Under the Missouri Plan, the governor appoints three citizens to serve on the judicial selection commission. They are joined by three Bar-elected members of the Missouri Bar … [Read more...]

Several decades ago the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee completed a readership study of the state convention newspapers. Subscriptions were declining and leaders wanted to know why. Ultimately there were several reasons, but one caught my eye. Most state newspapers targeted pastors and church leaders as their primary subscribers. This was understandable because the denomination’s leaders needed to know what was happening throughout the SBC and in their states. The … [Read more...]

Cooperative Program giving has a tremendous impact in supporting our missionaries around the world and in Missouri. But there are other ways it influences. In one recent instance, through The Pathway. For the past five years, an Oregon couple, Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of a bakery named Sweet Cakes by Melissa, have been the victims of an unjust lawsuit by two lesbians who sued after the Kleins refused to bake them a wedding cake. In 2015, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries … [Read more...]

It is easy to get our eyes off the Lord when it seems like our world is coming apart at the seams. Every day challenges us to keep our faith in the Lord strong. No matter what is happening in the world or in our lives, we must trust Him because He is in control. God has had a plan for us from the beginning – and His plans are best because God knows all about them. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD,” in Jeremiah 29:11. We do not know God’s plans, but He does, Philip … [Read more...]

Missouri voters should vote NO on Amendment 2 on Aug. 4. Amendment 2 is an expansion of Obamacare, another sneaky effort to expand taxpayer-funded abortions and bankrupt the state. This socialistic monstrosity is the latest example of “government creep,” the never-ending attempt by government to control our lives and rob us of our freedom. Amendment 2 expands Medicaid eligibility to individuals earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. This figure equates to an individual … [Read more...]

In my 45 years as a journalist I cannot recall a member of Congress so passionately urging conservative Christians to get involved in the making of public policy. Sen. Joshua Hawley’s impassioned plea for Christian involvement is welcomed, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court’s disgraceful ruling in the Bostick v. Clayton County case in which it redefined “sex” as written in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In its ruling, the court said “sex” no longer means “male” and “female” as biological … [Read more...]

I am thankful to live in a nation that promotes religious freedom around the world. I am also grateful to be a member of a denomination that aggressively supports that effort. I applaud President Trump for signing an Executive Order June 2 that calls for the prioritization of international religious liberty in United States foreign policy and at least $50 million a year for programs that boost freedom for religious adherents worldwide. The president took that action just as Southern … [Read more...]

On one of the bookcase shelves in my office sits a beautifully hand-made shadow box. It features the baseball I captured off the bat of former Kansas City Royal Matt Stairs during a game Sept. 21, 2005, at Kauffman Stadium. I was sitting in the second deck directly behind home plate when Stairs fouled a pitch straight back that barely cleared the backstop netting. It came directly at me. I raised my right hand and the ball smacked right into my palm, ricocheting straight down. It bounced … [Read more...]