The Church Must Grow or Perish by Mark Mulder & Gerardo Martí “The best book written by sociologists I read this year—it helped me understand how one ministry model reshaped the American church (for better and for worse).”

This is the biography that Robert Schuller deserves.” —Robert J. Mouw, Preface of The Church Must Grow or Perish

Part of my reading today

From current field notes: A man extinguishes his cigarette to participate in communion... he holds the cigarette in the same hand as his communion elements.

Christmas returns 🎁 📦 🎁

Ack -- I respect the Bible too much to describe this student essay as "Bible-based"

Picture of event found @ Waco Herald-Tribune wacotrib.com/news/local/a...

Reading field notes for new project: "Jesus climbs on the back of a black & red Harley Davidson. The bearded driver walks the bike along the path. People lay down the palm branches before them. The singing continues. At the end of the block, the motorcycle circles & returns in the other direction."

The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5

NPR Over 1.6 million immigrants have lost their legal status in the first 11 months of President Trump’s presidency. Number includes people accepted to come to the country on a wide variety of immigration parole, visa, asylum, and temporary protected status programs.

Part of my reading today

Detailed and explosive, an amazing compilation of historical detail that enlightens much of our early 21st Century politics Published by Princeton University Press

Clear, surprisingly comprehensive, and really well written From Princeton University Press

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Great discussion with historian Rusty Hawkins, author of The Bible Told Them So: How Southern Evangelicals Fought to Preserve White Supremacy How white Southern churches declared school integration “defied God’s design.” Decades later, many of those congregations champion “color-blindness” instead.

Part of my reading today

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Arguing conspiracy “isn’t a bug but a feature” of American evangelicalism,new book examines long history of conspiracy theorizing, including Great Awakening George Whitfield’s paranoid fear of slave uprisings & Billy Graham’s conversation with Nixon on Jewish people supposedly controlling the media👇

Vandals decapitated & smashed the statue of Mary in an Evanston church’s ICE raid themed Nativity scene. The church responded by replacing it with a sign saying Mary was beaten & dragged away in front of her son and is being held in immigration detention. 👉 www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/15/n...

Not enough attention for this well-made, enjoyable film.

Hero

THE THREE ICE MEN We followed the star—right to your unauthorized encampment. No room at the inn, and no room in the country. What Child Is This? I’m gonna need to see the birth certificate for the kid. We intercepted three guys on camels & shepherds are already in a detention center in El Paso.

THE THREE ICE MEN We followed the star—right to your unauthorized encampment. No room at the inn, and no room in the country. What Child Is This? I’m gonna need to see the birth certificate for the kid. We intercepted three guys on camels & shepherds are already in a detention center in El Paso.

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Happy to share receipt of a $2 million grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc to continue our work thru 2030. $1 million comes in matching funds — the whole supports initiatives to encourage and expand efforts for racial justice across churches in US & Canada with colleagues Mark Mulder & Kevin Dougherty.

Missiongathering church in Charlotte features ICE reaching out to the Holy Family

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Apparently he asked to sit up front.

just saw this

Slide for eugenics lecture

"U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services directed its employees to halt adjudicating all immigration pathways for people from 19 countries deemed to be 'high risk'"

I’ve been partnering with this bold and thoughtful church over the past 5 years— the national attention of the congregation and its pastor has grown tremendously. Church displays Nativity scene with baby Jesus in zip ties, ICE agents👇

Part of my reading today

Casual Christian Nationalist sighting while picking out a Christmas tree 🎄

CyberMonday Deal 👏👏👏 👉 a.co/d/2YbLUhS

Happy Thanksgiving 😝

A BEST BOOK OF 2025 "Brimming with constructive criticism couched in a sympathetic depiction of its subject, this book is a showcase in producing outstanding and compelling biography that represents wider narratives and trends in history." 🎉🎉 Very happy to celebrate our new biography 🎉🎉

A mainline pastor on his departure from a mainline church👇 “My departure was painful, but it clarified something essential: My calling is not to comfort the rich and powerful but to accompany the oppressed…I no longer believe the church’s calling is to be liberal. I believe it is to be liberating…”

“At minimum, AI does not have the Holy Spirit inside of it” A top artist on the iTunes top 100 Christian and gospel albums chart this week,Solomon Ray, is not a real person. Reinforces idealization of Black people as superior worshippers — even if they’re AI generated.

for lecture on religion and culture 👇

Me: <going about my business online> AI: LOOK AT ME! I'M HERE! READ ME! AREN'T I HELPFUL? YAY ME! CLICK FOR MORE! I'M HELPFUL, REALLY! C'MON I'M EVERYWHERE! BUZZ BUZZ I CAN GENERATE EVEN MORE! JUST ASK! YOU CAN DISMISS ME BUT I'LL BE BACK!

Great to see a new edition of Divided by Faith (Oxford 2025). I can still remember sitting in my office holding a copy of the original, sent to me as a gift from Michael Emerson. The book inspired an idea that became my dissertation, which launched my scholarly career. Amazing to now be included!

Finished — really enjoyed this

Political Gap Between Pastors & Pews “Political partisanship of the average mainline pastor diverges significantly from the politics of the folks sitting in their pews.” Ryan Burge analyzes recent PRRI data to highlight pervasive pattern in Mainline Christianity 👉 open.substack.com/pub/ryanburg...

I knew it 😝

CHARLOTTE Closed 1st time in 28 yrs “The amount of fear that we have right now is no good,” Betancur told CharlotteFive outside Manolo’s Baker, in the heart of Charlotte’s immigrant community. “We need to protect our families and family separation.” 👉 www.charlotteobserver.com/charlottefiv...

CHARLOTTE “Agents parked just outside a closed gate leading to the church parking lot & ran into the yard… The agents asked no questions and showed no identification before taking one man away, whose wife and child were inside at the time…” More 👉 www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politic...

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Latest podcast with Mark and I 👇👇👇 We talk about Schuller’s ministry and what it means for church leaders today podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...