When I’m asked who my favorite character from all my novels is, I always say it’s Obadiah Abernathy in Dominion, who played baseball in the old Negro leagues. He modeled dignity, grace, wisdom, and humor. In this excerpt from the book, Obadiah talks to his family about church in the old days, and the Heaven that’s coming and won’t ever end.

In this excerpt from my novel Dominion, the main character Clarence Abernathy, a black journalist, shares about his experiences as a black man with his friend and coworker. What Clarence shares echoes what every black man, from poor guys to rich ones, told me when I interviewed many black Americans while researching Dominion.

In this blog I’ll address some difficult issues that some will misunderstand or be offended by despite my efforts to speak accurately and carefully. There are many balancing statements in this blog, which partly accounts for its length. If you take one statement out of context without those other balancing statements you can misunderstand anything I’m saying. I hope you don’t.

In this excerpt from my novel Dominion, the main character Clarence reflects about life as a black man in America. 

Soon after the death of George Floyd, Kelsey Brown, a woman I know and deeply respect, who lives here in Oregon, shared the following words on Facebook. My heart breaks for Kelsey and her family, and all the more having heard these stories over and over again from trustworthy people like her and Vergil.

A few years ago I enjoyed meeting recording artist Shai Linne at a conference where we were speaking the same night. We had a terrific conversation in which I thanked him for his extraordinary work and artistry in conveying solid biblical doctrine. Please listen to his powerful words in the following article. They resonate, down to the specific illustrations, with what every black man, from poor guys to rich ones, told me when I interviewed many black Americans while researching my novel Dominion.

I have posted previous blogs and articles on racial justice, including my last blog post. At the risk of being misunderstood or misquoted by some who will say, “This is no time to defend cops,” I want to also address the role of righteous people of all ethnicities serving in law enforcement, and say something to police officers that I feel deeply.

In this excerpt from my novel Dominion, the main character Clarence Abernathy, a black journalist, discusses issues related to race with his friend and coworker Jake Woods (the main character of the previous novel Deadline). There’s a lot of action in the book, but this is a lengthy dialogue, one that may help you think a little differently about racial issues than a nonfiction treatment might.

My son-in-law Dan Franklin, teaching pastor at Life Bible Fellowship Church in Upland, California, shared the following thoughts on Facebook yesterday. May Jesus be honored, justice prevail, and peace be upheld for the sake of all people.