Fred Phelps, the controversial founder of Westboro Baptist Church, died last week. If you want to know more about Fred, you’ll have to read elsewhere.

Or “Neo-Pagans” and “Unchurched” Neo-pagan. It’s a term I toss around frequently, often endearingly. I think of many friends and acquaintances who I describe as

Today, we welcome Chad Pierce as a guest blogger on The Twelve.  Chad teaches biblical studies at Central College in Pella, Iowa and is a

Small-town church life in the upper Midwest means that we do funerals—quite a few. Iowa, for instance, is among the most elderly states in the

What is it about the end of the year that makes us turn to stout and solemn hymns? While the TV shows us people wearing

Driving by the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Des Moines, the sign* read,     Any night a child is born     Is a holy night. I smiled inwardly, a

Exhibit One: Once while spending the weekend at my college roommate’s home, we worshipped at his Nazarene Church.  Small, sincere, and pure holiness. The “old”

The Kingdom of God There is hardly a more powerful phrase or image in all of scripture. It stirs me, stretches my imagination, fills me