Articles & Columns

Brian has written numerous editorials and news articles for various publications, and has reported on location from across the country and 23 other nations. Send feedback or questions to [email protected].

• Brian writes a weekly editorial for Word&Way. Find those here.
• Brian wrote more than 270 articles and columns for Ethics Daily (now known as Good Faith Media). Find those here.
• Brian has written more than 30 articles at Baptist News Global. Find those here.
• Brian also wrote more than 80 columns for Churchnet, and edited its award-winning e-magazine (2014-2017)

Other articles & columns:

• Missouri Independent (Jan. 25, 2022): Eric Schmitt Fails a Moral Test on School Masks
• Boston Globe (Jan. 15, 2021): Boston was Right to Refuse to Fly Christian Flag (co-authored with Rachel Laser)
• Kansas City Star (Dec. 2, 2021): Jay Ashcroft is Serving Only the God of GOP Politics
• Missouri Times (July 21, 2021): Let’s Get Vaccinated, in Jesus’s Name (co-authored with Christopher Dixon)
• Church & State (July-August, 2021): Skipping Sunday: Why this Baptist Minister didn’t Attend Church On July 4
• Nashville Tennessean (June 15, 2021): Former Southern Baptist Convention President Paige Patterson has Controversial Past Church Must Reckon with
• Good Faith Media (May 5, 2021): Standing for Truth – And the Right to Tell It
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Feb. 28, 2021): Missouri Rushes to Honor Limbaugh but Ignores Civil Rights Hero C.T. Vivian
• Kansas City Star (Feb. 17, 2021): Blunt, Hawley Must Rethink their Legacies
• Missouri Times (Feb. 10, 2021): Guns Shouldn’t Trump the First Amendment
• Missouri Independent (Feb. 1, 2021): There should be no pandemic privilege for religion
• Louisville Courier-Journal (Jan. 13, 2021): Mohler Should Step Down from Southern Baptist Leadership After Embracing Trump
• Roll Call (Jan. 5, 2021): The Democratic Sin of Congressional Chaplains
• Kansas City Star (Sept. 6, 2020): Don’t Snuff Out the Light Online
• Good Faith Media (Jul. 17, 2020): Baylor, White Churches Must Bare Racist Pasts Before Reparations
• Kansas City Star (Mar. 26, 2020): Parson Should Ban In-Person Church Services in Missouri
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Mar. 11, 2020): Missouri Compromise Bicentennial Must Include an Official Apology for Slavery
• Sojourners (Dec. 5, 2019): Impeaching King Herod
• Christian Citizen (Nov. 1, 2019): Of Trees and Thornbushes
• Baptist Times (Jul. 15, 2019): Global Baptists Speak Out on Women, Intolerance
• Christian Citizen (May 21, 2019): Reclaiming the Historic Understanding of Religious Liberty for All
• Reflections (Sept.-Dec. 2018): wrote seven daily devotionals
• Kansas City Star (Sept. 20, 2018): Political Activity Ban Actually Protects Churches
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Sept 6, 2018): Kavanaugh Works to Dismantle Wall Between Church, State
• Baptist World (Jan.-Mar. 2018): How the Reformation (and a Baptist Meeting) Changed MLK’s Name
• Report from the Capital (Jan./Feb. 2018): A Conversation with Amanda Tyler
• Report from the Capital (July/Aug. 2017): Global Baptists Urge Religious Liberty for All
• Baptist Times (Jul 11, 2017): Global Baptists Promote Religious Liberty Concerns 
• Religion News Service (June 2, 2017): I Refuse to Forget the Christians Advocating for Climate Action
• Red Letter Christians (Sept. 15, 2016): Bearing Witness on Moral Day of Action
• Red Letter Christians (Aug. 23, 2016): Political Slogans For Christians to Rally Behind
• Red Letter Christians (Apr. 26, 2016): An Eye For An Eye Makes the Bible Blind
• Wall of Separation (Apr. 22, 2016): This Baptist Minister Opposes Discrimination. Read To Find Out Why.
• Coracle (Mar. 23, 2016): Experiencing Cotton Patch Moments
• Red Letter Christians (Mar. 3, 2016): What Would Jesus of Valdosta Say to Donald Trump?
• Washington Post (Feb. 29, 2016): Why Exit Pollsters Desperately Need to Get Religion
• Sojourners (Feb. 24, 2016): Religious Worship is Political
• Reflections (Jan.-Mar. 2016): wrote seven daily devotionals
• Religion News Service (Dec. 2, 2015): Why I Will Provide a Christian Moral Witness at the Paris Climate Conference
• Baptist Times (Feb. 5, 2015): Nigerian Baptists React to Kerry’s Visit Ahead of Election
• Baptist World (Oct.-Dec. 2014): Middle Eastern Baptists Share Fears, Hopes as Minority Faith
• Baptist World (Oct.-Dec. 2013): Sam Sharpe, Jamaican Revolutionary Hero
• Baptist World (Oct.-Dec. 2013): Guiding Document on Intra-Baptist Relations Ratified
• WMRA’s “The Spark” (Sept. 10, 2012): Interview with Lenny Jordan.
• Bark (Sept. 2012): Dog’s breathing [poem].
• Communication Currents (Oct. 1, 2011): Destroying a Church Building to Advance Free Speech Rights
• CNN (Sept. 14, 2011): Don’t Be Fooled by Candidates’ God Talk
• Harrisonburg Daily News-Record (Mar. 15, 2011): King Hearings Creating Division
• Christian Ethics Today (Winter 2010): Some Baptists Echo “Lie of the Year”
• Houston Chronicle (Sept. 11, 2010): Kennedy Speech Eloquently Balanced Religion, Politics
• WMRA’s “Civic Soapbox” (Sept. 10, 2010): James Madison and Religious Liberty for All
• Birmingham News (May 31, 2010): Roy Moore’s Fate Should Serve as a Warning About Movements
• Roanoke Times (May 5, 2010): Preaching True Religious Freedom
• WMRA’s “Civic Soapbox” (Jul. 31, 2009): Unconstitutional Religious Tests for Political Office
• Virginian-Pilot (May 27, 2009): No Liberty at Liberty U.
• Roanoke Times (May 8, 2009): A Disingenuous Attack Against McAuliffe
• Religion Dispatches (August 6, 2008): Religious Right Prays for ‘Good’ Rain Over Obama
• Religion Dispatches (May 27, 2008): American Idol(atry): McCain-as-Jesus
• Columbia Missourian (May 14, 2008): Evangelicals’ Ties Should be to Bible
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch (May 12, 2008): Stop Stereotyping Evangelicals
• Religion Dispatches (Apr. 10, 2008): Stop Playing Politics with Prayer
• Columbia Tribune (Feb. 19, 2008): Missouri’s Evangelicals Stereotyped
• New Baptist Covenant. (Feb. 1, 2008): Medical Professionals Urge Congregational Health Advocacy
• New Baptist Covenant. (Feb. 1, 2018): Mainstream Baptists Hear Shurden, Honor Lolley
• New Baptist Covenant. (Jan. 31, 2008): Give Students a Cause Worthy of Their Devotion, Panelists Urge
• Kansas City Star (Dec. 20, 2007): Keep Congress Away from Holy Days
• Boone County Democrat (Dec. 2007): Weighing in on Civic Engagement
• SojoMail (May 19, 2006): The Prom, Camels, and Stephen Colbert
• Mainstream Messenger (Oct. 13, 2003): California Dreaming
• Mainstream Messenger (Sept. 2003): SBC, CBF, BWA, and Billiards
• And several items as student journalist in Omnibus and SBU Forensic Journal