role models

Daniel Burke 5-03-2013

Jay Bakker, son of televangelists Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker, identifies with Matthew Warren as a fellow PK. Photo courtesy RNS.

The day Franklin Graham was born, he received a telegram.

“Welcome to this sin-sick world,” the Western Union message said, “and to the challenge you have to walk in your daddy’s footsteps.”

It didn’t take long for Graham, the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, to realize that being a preacher’s kid would be both a blessing and a burden.

“I love my parents,” Graham said in a recent interview, “but there came a time where I couldn’t let my parents live my life.”

Sandi Villarreal 8-24-2012
Superhero image by file404 / Shutterstock.com.

Superhero image by file404 / Shutterstock.com. Illustration by Sandi Villarreal / Sojourners.

The scandal du jour across the morning news shows today was Lance Armstrong's decision to stop fighting doping investigations. It means he is stripped of his record seven victories in the Tour de France and his bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics. 

While saying uncle in the doping fight doesn't necessarily equal guilt, the presumption is that Armstrong knew things were going to come out in the investigation — that there was some evidence or testimony that would not look good. 

Today on Morning JoeI thought MSNBC contributor Jonathan Capehart hit the nail on the head:

"This is yet another institution that has failed. …  We've seen everything that people believed in — whether it's the financial institution or government itself or just heroes — just falling by the wayside. You're seeing that this world that we have constructed of sort of purity and perfection, it's just not real."

Jim Wallis 2-09-2011
The Super Bowl was a good football game and the team I liked best won -- the Green Bay Packers. The team is owned by its city, not some narcissistic rich guy, and I like that.
Jeannie Choi 2-04-2011

Rosa Parks. Football Injuries. Egypt. Here's a little round up of links from around the Web you may have missed this week:

Eugene Cho 2-03-2010

Several weeks ago, I had an extensive phone interview with a reporter from The New York Times about the growing popularity of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in the wide and nebulous net of "evangelical churches." The reporter had come across one of my previous blog entries

Margaret Benefiel 11-03-2009
Thousands of protesters converged on Chicago last week to demand banking reform, challenging bankers gathered
Many problems in our society will be solved when young men are willing to become good fathers. Of course, they can do this only if they have an example to follow.
Jim Wallis 6-15-2009
More than the primaries, general election, board meetings, or the budget fight on Capitol Hill, this past week was a high-intensity roller coaster for me. It was Little League playoffs.
Raising one half-African son and one of mixed European descent posed both ordinary and unique parenting challenges for my husband and me.

Thank God for mothers! Mother's Day is an opportunity to make life special for them. It is a chance to celebrate family. I thank God for my mother, who died some years ago. There is one thing I regret: for too many years I did not appreciate her enough and took her for granted. She was always there for us. I thank God for my wife.