SBC Voices

Hymns played an important part in worship during my formative years. I’ve written here on Voices that my earliest memory of worship is standing beside my mother at the First Baptist Church of Fairfield, Texas, while the congregation sang, “Bringing in the Sheaves.” I thought they sang “bringing in the leaves,” and that seemed strange to me. Why would people bring in leaves? Still, hymns were the staple of congregational worship for several hundred years. Old timers like me grew up singing them, and we miss singing the familiar hymns of yesterday. I teach the old folks’ Sunday school class … [Read more...] about The Great SBC Voices Hymn Survey

This is Post 6 in Don Dent's "Finding Direction" Series Jesus told the disciples they were to proclaim Him to the whole world, including all the nations (Matt 24:14).  Paul took up that task and affirmed that Jesus died for all so that we would not live for ourselves but for Him who died and rose for us (2 Cor 5:15).  So, God’s intention, and our task, is to proclaim Jesus so the whole world can hear and believe. Since Pentecost, this primarily involves two missional structures – 1) the “sent ones” who go to other places/peoples to proclaim Christ where he is not known, and 2) the … [Read more...] about Movements to Christ (Don Dent)

I will admit that I watched not a single minute of last night's presidential debate. Still, to the moment I am writing this, I have not watched a single clip from the debate. So, as many of you have often suspected, I write from a place of complete ignorance. (Your joke here...) What I have done, though, is scour Twitter, Facebook, and other social media responses to see what people thought about the debate - that's more interesting than politicians. As is normal now, this is a razor-thin election, and as has always been the case for the last half-century, "the most important election of … [Read more...] about The Amazing Political Rorshach Debate Spectacle

Two weeks ago, we published a survey on preaching. One of our commenters, JND, suggested that we post a survey on Sunday School. So, here is your chance to express your opinions about Sunday School. In many denominations Sunday School is just a program for children; however, in the SBC we provide classes for all ages. Chuck Kelly in his book on evangelism in the SBC (How They Did It) posits that evangelism through the Sunday School was a key factor in the growth of the SBC. I certainly agree with that. Sadly, it seems fewer churches emphasize Sunday School these days, and fewer still use … [Read more...] about The SBC Voices Sunday School Survey

SBC Voices exists, in part, to provide a forum for folks to share their opinions. I thought it would be interesting to learn our readers’ opinions about preaching. I’m 75 years old, and I’ve been a Southern Baptist all my life. My father pastored SBC churches. So, I heard his sermons for many years. For about forty years I preached nearly every Sunday, but since I retired from missionary service, I’ve preached much less. In fact, last year I preached just once, and I’ll preach only once this year. That means I’ve transitioned from preaching to listening. For sure, I have opinions about … [Read more...] about The Great SBC Voices Preaching Survey

I read about the cicada tsunami all winter and heard and saw my first of the red-eyed, hard shell devils back in April. Apparently, they have gone back underground. We can expect them again in 2037. I think my noisy friends will emerge after I'm dead, my life expectancy being a few years short of their 17 year cycle. The SBC has been dealing with the issue of abuse for years. Two grand task forces were created, one of which is still active. Multiple millions have been spent. The SBC and SBC Executive Committee have a bushelful of lawsuits to defend, including one from a former SBC … [Read more...] about Has the sex abuse database gone the way of the cicada, underground?

This is Part 5 of Don Dent's "Finding Direction" series on key issues in missions. Discussions about money often raise emotional responses. Take, for example. the case of a leader promising some citizens that they did not have to pay a large debt they chose to incur and contracted to pay back.  Because money was available to them, many made foolish choices in how to spend it.  The leader now wants those people to support him, so he cancels their debt by giving it to other citizens who choose not to take on such a debt.  On one hand, these citizens are incensed a leader could take the money … [Read more...] about In Missions, Money Is a Double-Edged Blade (Don Dent)

I teach the Legacy Builders Bible Fellowship Group (think old folks Sunday school class) at our church. Because we never sing a hymn in the worship service, we sing a hymn each week in class. Recently, we sang “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” and that opened floodgates of church memories for me. My earliest memory of church is standing beside my mother at the First Baptist Church of Fairfield, Texas. My father was the pastor, and the year would have been 1954. That memory prompted me to remember other things of the SBC past. Old timers reading this will nod and smile (I hope), and younger … [Read more...] about “Days Gone By” – SBC Memories