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1 week ago | 
brianrecker.substack.com | Brian Recker
“Pride goes before a fall,” my dad said solemnly as we sat in traffic in Midtown Manhattan. Growing up, my dad was the pastor of an Independent Fundamental Baptist church in the heart of New York City. Our congregation met in a public school just blocks from the Stonewall Inn—the gay bar that police raided in 1969, leading to a revolutionary riot that became the turning point for LGBT rights. beloved, with Brian Recker is a reader-supported publication.
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2 weeks ago | 
brianrecker.substack.com | Brian Recker
Let me begin with some facts. Undocumented immigrants are more likely to be part of the workforce than American citizens, they are less likely to be criminals, and they pay about $100 billion in taxes—including contributing billions to programs like Social Security and Medicare that they are excluded from. As a result of their massive contributions, the vast majority of economists believe that the net effect of illegal immigration on the U.S. economy is positive, not negative.
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3 weeks ago | 
brianrecker.substack.com | Brian Recker
Luke 7:36–39And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
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1 month ago | 
brianrecker.substack.com | Brian Recker
Matthew 25:32–4632 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats...
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1 month ago | 
brianrecker.substack.com | Brian Recker
Luke 8:43-4843 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. 45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.
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1 month ago | 
brianrecker.substack.com | Brian Recker |Cara Meredith
I’m very excited to share this excerpt from Church Camp by Cara Meredith. As a former camper (The Wilds Christian Camp) and former camp counselor (Woodlands Camp), I deeply resonate with her stories, and can confirm that the guilt trips, manipulation, and coercive conversions are real as hell. beloved, with Brian Recker is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. The fourth night of camp was all about sin.
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1 month ago | 
brianrecker.substack.com | Brian Recker
My father has been a fundamental Baptist pastor for over 30 years. For many of those years, I was a pastor too, and we had plenty to talk about. Even though I wasn’t a fundamentalist, we could still find common ground in the trivialities of church life—“What are you preaching this week?” “How was Easter Sunday?”But these days, there’s a lot we don’t talk about. My girlfriend recently recommended a book of essays called What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About.
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2 months ago | 
brianrecker.substack.com | Brian Recker
Mark 16When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body…But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe…He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him…Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
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2 months ago | 
brianrecker.substack.com | Brian Recker
When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. —Luke 23:33Although I have deconstructed my evangelical faith, the cross still unsettles and captivates me. It is a uniquely powerful religious symbol, perhaps because it is intimately tied to the worst of what humans can do to one another.
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2 months ago | 
brianrecker.substack.com | Brian Recker
Luke 22:19-2019 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Communion. What comes to mind? My earliest memories of taking communion—or The Lord’s Supper—are quite terrifying.