Local Church Issues

11 May by Thom Hunter

President Obama Takes Brokenness to the Bank

8 comments

“This is something that, you know, we’ve talked about over the years and she, (Michelle) you know, she feels the same way, she feels the same way that I do. And that is that, in the end the values that I care most deeply about and she cares most deeply about is how we treat [...]

22 March by Doug Hibbard

“Ego autos anthropos eimi!”

14 comments

Apologies for the weak transliteration throughout: WordPress won’t do the Greek font my computer will. Yep, the last one was in Latin and this one is in Greek. It actually started as the Facebook status the Greek Professor at Ouachita Baptist University posted yesterday, and I thought it was worth reposting. Now, I’m going to [...]

21 March by Mike Bergman

Christianity and Atheism in an Age of Science

25 comments

I and some other men have been talking to a young man who joins our church gatherings.  Recently, he said, “I want to believe but I don’t know if I can.  As I see it right now, I have a 50/50 chance that either atheism or Christianity is true, and I’m just not sure which [...]

29 February by Mike Bergman

Why I have a more exclusive wedding policy…

102 comments

One of the practical, and usually fun, outworkings of pastoral ministry is performing marriages.  Yet as pastors, we are faced with a bit of a dilemma—we live in a culture of diverse peoples, backgrounds, and beliefs, yet the Bible doesn’t explicitly tell us which marriages we can oversee and which we cannot.  In fact, the [...]

16 February by Josh Collins

Jedi Council: Advice for Church Funding Requests

13 comments

After recently taking my 9 year-old cousin to see Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 3D for his birthday, I’ve decided to pretend that our SBC Voices comment club is our own version of the Jedi Council and to do a few posts asking for wise, sage, and Yoda-like counsel. To quote Yoda himself, “Up to you [...]

7 December by Andrew Wencl

Applying Lessons from Penn State to Pine Chapel

15 comments

The news and the general blogosphere have been giving a bigger emphasis to issues of child abuse and criminal sexual misconduct since the Penn State scandal broke loose. Within a short period of time Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, updated the school’s policy regarding the obligation to report instances of child [...]

17 November by Thom Hunter

Another Blind Eye to a Small Boy’s Cry

21 comments

(Note: Once again, little ones have gone unprotected, with small boys victimized by both the twisted and broken and the blind and indifferent. I was sexually- abused decades ago, at the age of 8.  No victim ever forgets.  For the hope of the Penn State small boys and other children being abused, often despite the [...]

1 November by Thom Hunter

“Who Told You You Were Naked?”

13 comments

One of the most discouraging aspects of battling a deeply-internalized sexual issue or other commanding presence of repetitive sin is that, even after you face it, fight it, and deprive it, something in that deep-internal goes right back to work to revive it. You choke it, pound it, bury it, surrender it and then, before [...]

21 October by Thom Hunter

The Lengthening Shadow of Pro-Gay Theology

27 comments

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. — I [...]

11 October by Brandon Smith

BGCT: Are They the Bad Guys?

19 comments

Since the controversy in Texas regarding the Baptist Faith & Message (2000), the Baptist General Convention of Texas has been vilified as the liberals of the state, especially considering the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention formed to affirm the BFM and its support of inerrancy and the roles of women. My question is, is the BGCT as “bad” as advertised by [...]

29 September by Doug Hibbard

Four Words that are Critical for Pastors (Part 2)

2 comments

In Part 1, I told you that I think we should be doing a better job saying “Thank you” as ministers and church leaders. If I knew how, I’d link back to that here. However, I don’t know how. If an editor does it, thank you for that… Thank you ought to be often on [...]

27 September by Doug Hibbard

4 Critical Words for Pastors (Part 1)

5 comments

I am wanting to get back into the habit of posting around here, but I just haven’t quite known what to say. I am striving to not spend hours upon hours dealing with things that are out of my control, like name changes in the SBC, pastors that do bizarre things, and denominations that fall [...]

19 September by Mike Bergman

The Simple Beauty and Complex Challenges of Discipleship

11 comments

So many churches seem to strive for some sort of identity—something they can hang their hats on and say “this is who we are and this is what we offer.”  We use different monikers: seeker-sensitive, reformed, traditional, contemporary, family-based… we use different models of “doing church”… and we employ all sorts of purpose statements, some [...]

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