My biggest anxiety in becoming a pastor in the Bible Belt was that I carried some guilt for what I believed was taking the easy road of ministry. I am a pastor in a city where public school football teams pray Christian prayers before games.
I have friends pastoring in cities such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and New York City, and here I am, able to drive from my house to Georgia or Alabama in just over 30 minutes. On that drive into the Deep South, I pass more churches than gas stations and restaurants.
Along Southern highways, there are billboards with messages about how to get to heaven and big wooden crosses standing on church properties for all to see as they drive by. The catfish is fried, the biscuits and gravy abundant, and everyone's grandmothers are pillars in a local church.
Read Full Article »