There are all kinds of good reasons to oppose the lottery. It is a terrible form of gambling that tends to appeal most to people who can’t afford it. I’ve heard it described as a tax on stupidity – you’ve better odds of being struck by lightning than winning the thing. Then suddenly the Mega […]
A Birmingham Update from the Executive Committee
Greetings SBCVoices readers. My name is Bill Townes and I serve as the Vice President for Convention Finance and Convention Manager for the SBC Executive Committee. I want to thank the SBCVoices team again for the opportunity to help shed some light on this issue. I apologize for the delay in responding, but I needed […]
Should Entity Head’s Salaries Be Made Public?
I noticed a comment in William’s philippic (see, William, I learned a new word) yesterday that called for something that has been called for many times before – that the leaders of SBC entities should make their salary packages public to all Southern Baptists. It was recommended as an accountability measure. This has never been […]
Ice sculptures, chefs, sychophants, sinecures, and secrecy
I’m not running for anything so it doesn’t trouble me to write that my default posture on all things SBC is cold eyed, astringent skepticism. Maybe that is unfair to the hundreds, thousands of highly committed, loyal, servants who are employed by our entities or who serve as trustees of them. Still, I think I come […]
So…what happened?
I am on the wait list for the Westin Hotel in Downtown Birmingham for this year’s Southern Baptist Convention. It is one of the convention hotels that is connected to the convention center. Hotel registration opened on Friday at 9am (EST). I was turning my computer on at that time to register. By the time […]
My DNA is better than your DNA
Many thanks to Elizabeth Warren for the recent attention drawn to DNA testing. While I have no interest in the political debate over all that, my interest in genealogy led me to explore this some years ago. If Senator Warren is between 1/64 and 1/1024 Native American good for her. That’s anywhere from a third […]
Plagiarism for a New Day
My sermon prep and sermon delivery professor, a former large church pastor, would tell the young Spurgeons on the first day of class that any outline or sermon submitted if found to be copied would result in immediate failure of the class. While that was to be expected (and who should expect graduate academic credit […]
Preferential Hiring of a Minority Candidate for IMB President?
Dave Miller recently committed to cyberspace his view of minority hiring in light of the five entity leadership roles which are or shortly will be vacant: IMB, Lifeway, Executive Committee of the SBC, Southwestern Seminary, and New Orleans Seminary. To summarize, Dave believes it would be a shameful turn of events if the SBC failed […]
A Call to Prioritism
I’ve followed with interest the debate about social justice. We seem to struggle with a definition of what it is, much less agree on what to do to achieve it. The Lord Jesus issued two primary commandments to His followers: The Great Commission and The Great Commandment. Of course, the Great Commission is found in Matthew 28:18-20— “And […]
Can We Avoid Hiring Based on Race?
I’m asking this question because I used to be one of the “just hire the right man for the job” crowd. Then, I had lunch with a millennial. I asked him how I could reach millennials with the gospel. His answer was blunt, to the point, and surprising. He said, “Get a millennial to reach […]
A Forum for the Opposition on Race
We are burdened about race relations in America and in the church. We advocate actively seeking justice and reconciliation through greater inclusion, through minority hiring, through social justice initiatives from a biblical foundation. Some of you oppose everything we suggest. You quibble with our terminology and accuse us of racism, of reverse discrimination, or you […]
Five Vacancies. Why the SBC Should Hire Its First Minority Entity President
We are in a unique time in SBC life. Have there ever been five entities in transition? We have been talking about minority leadership at an entity over the last few years. With nearly half of our entity leadership positions open, it is inevitable that this is a key moment in SBC history. Our trustees […]