My wife and I were appointed as missionaries by the Foreign Mission Board (now IMB) in April of 1975. If you do the math, you’ll see we’ve been associated with the IMB for 50 years. When we married in 1971, we wrote the FMB to tell them we were called to missionary service. The Personnel Department wrote back and said, “Wonderful, go to seminary.” So, off to Southwestern Baptist Seminary we went. In those years, 55 percent of the FMB’s appointees had studied at SWBTS. We were appointed by the FMB in April of 1975, and I graduated from seminary in May. (I’ve often wondered what the FMB would … [Read more...] about My 50 Years with the International Mission Board
Complementarian porn
Think of this as food porn, a "glamorized visual presentation of cooking or eating." No need to get triggered. It takes no genius to point out the most obvious and relevant point about the SBC's recent forays into doctrinal purity and the sanitizing of the denomination as it relates to women serving in churches. What is presented as a return to doctrinal fidelity and New Testament ecclesiology is actually complementarian porn, the reality on the ground being far removed from the idealized presentations we hear represented by proponents. I have a distaste for even using the term … [Read more...] about Complementarian porn
Randy Covington should get a trophy instead of resigning [by WILLIAM THORNTON]
Randy Covington has been an IMB missionary for 22 years and the Alaska convention leader for about eight. He is our kind of Christian and denominational servant. It's insanity that we punish and lose people like this. Alaska exec resigns, BP Alaska Baptist leader resigns, BNG The details involve a woman preschool and children "pastor," about which I wrote earlier. Randy Covington did nothing wrong, said nothing wrong, although he might could have explained it better. For crying out loud, he had already set his retirement for a few months later. No reason to resign early to satisfy … [Read more...] about Randy Covington should get a trophy instead of resigning [by WILLIAM THORNTON]
Thoughts on SBC Seminaries (Mark Terry)
Recently, I’ve been thinking about our Southern Baptist seminaries. The SBC owns six: Southern in Louisville, Southeastern in Wake Forest, NC, New Orleans, Southwestern in Fort Worth, Midwestern in Kansas City, and Gateway (formerly Golden Gate) in Ontario, California. There is a seventh Southern Baptist seminary, Mid-America, in Memphis. Mid-America is thoroughly Southern Baptist, but it is not owned by the SBC, nor does it receive any money from the Cooperative Program. The six seminaries together receive 21 percent of the Cooperative Program budget. That money is divided among the six … [Read more...] about Thoughts on SBC Seminaries (Mark Terry)
When You Get Older…
When you get older, your hands can no longer open cans or bags or much of anything. When you get older, you spend time sorting your medications into pill caddies. When you get older, it becomes almost impossible to stand up without grunting. When you get older, using closed captions when watching TV becomes increasingly necessary. When you get older, driving at night becomes more of an adventure. When you get older, taking a nap becomes one of life’s greatest joys. When you get older, hopes and dreams become reflections, regrets, and satisfactions. When you get older, the … [Read more...] about When You Get Older…
The SBC EC should stop interrogating churches and get on with work that is fruitful
This concerns the recent expulsion of Rabbit Creek Baptist church, Anchorage, AK. The church has a female children and families "pastor" but "the position was not stated as a cause of the EC’s action." Instead the EC noted that "Rabbit Creek Senior Pastor Mark T. Goodman and at least four other Rabbit Creek staff members signed Baptist Women in Ministry’s Open Letter to Baptist Women supporting women in church leadership and asserting that “Jesus did not place any limits on women’s roles.” The female pastor was among those identified and targeted by the zealots who sought to amend SBC … [Read more...] about The SBC EC should stop interrogating churches and get on with work that is fruitful
It’s official! Messengers were monumentally stupid in their sex abuse actions
The executive summary would go something like this. Messengers approved motions that (1) have had little or no positive effect on making children safer in our 50k or so churches, but (2) have tied the SBC Executive Committee to enormous legal expenses as far as the eye can see. These expenses are not just those needed for defense of the SBC and the SBC EC but those needed to fulfill the EC's contractual obligation to defend Guidepost Solutions from any lawsuits resulting from their work for the EC. (3) If SBC messengers approve of the EC budget recommendations just made, we will skim … [Read more...] about It’s official! Messengers were monumentally stupid in their sex abuse actions
This Is Not Your Grandfather’s SBC, Part 3 (Mark Terry)
From Dave - in my advanced senility, I neglected to changed the author designation from my name to Dr. Terry's. My apologies. In this third part I’ll focus on three aspects of SBC life from sixty years ago. Again, these are my memories and experiences. My memory may fail me at times, and your experience might have been different. I should emphasize that I’m not contending that the past was great and the present is terrible. No, some contemporary things are better; but, then again, just because something is old does not mean it’s bad. Some things are just different. Local Church … [Read more...] about This Is Not Your Grandfather’s SBC, Part 3 (Mark Terry)
Why Would a 192 Year-Old Church Join the SBC? (Joe Radosevich)
In 2024, our church joined the Southern Baptist Convention. Why would a 192-year-old church decide to join the SBC? Here are four reasons why we joined. First, our goal requires help. Our church is healthy by many metrics. We are healthy financially and have a large reserve. We have people from birth to 98 attending in a normal week. We worship, disciple, and do outreach. We give over 10% of our income to missions. We support church planters in 7 countries. If all we cared about was being a healthy church, then the main thing we need from the SBC is good seminaries to train future pastors. … [Read more...] about Why Would a 192 Year-Old Church Join the SBC? (Joe Radosevich)
You should always ask for compensation, not salary.
SBCers in the pulpits and pews get played in a thousand different ways by those on the payroll. It's a disgrace, a travesty, and a black eye to the Christian ministry. My view on denominational leader transparency hasn't change in decades: Entity heads, perhaps entity executive leadership, should disclose their compensation each year in a manner where ordinary SBCers, the ones who pay the bills, may access it. There is no good reason for the pay of entity heads to be kept secret. There are a world of bad reasons and we see these each time the subject arises. Secrecy is demanded because: … [Read more...] about You should always ask for compensation, not salary.