On November 21st, Tom Ascol of Founders Ministry, wrote a piece encouraging either Karen Swallow Prior to “reconsider her endorsement of Revoice and withdraw it or that Danny Akin will reconsider this hire and retract it.” Though I’m not sure how viable that first option is for her because Ascol also framed the discussion this […]
Is Caring Well doing well in our autonomous churches?
It is doing well in my view. Caring Well is the abuse resource and effort that resulted from the joint work of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and the ad hoc Sex Abuse Advisory Group appointed by SBC president J. D. Greear. The Caring Well initiative was presented at the SBC Convention this past […]
Response to Paige Patterson’s 2012 Letter (Dr. Marshal Ausberry)
I was saddened and wounded to read the letter from seven years ago from our Brother Paige Patterson to Jimmy Draper. I was asked by a couple of news agencies to give comment. But as I prayed about it, I felt led to share first with my SBC family through the Baptist Press. I agree […]
Oh No, Chick-Fil-A caved. The World is Ending
The Twitter-verse was set ablaze yesterday as Chick-Fil-A anounced a redistribution of its charitable donations beginning next year. Conservative Christian leaders immediately took to social media to denounce the restaurant chain as cowards, compromisers, and cavers. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee wrote via twitter: In August 2012, I coordinated a national Chick-Fil-A appreciation dayafter they […]
Why Not You?
An organization in my state that does licensing and placements for foster care posted the following statistics recently on social media: In our state 14 out of every 100 children are in foster care The average stay of these children in foster homes is 700 days There are ~15,000 children in foster care and only […]
The beloved pastor goes turkey hunting and how Buddy made my deacon hall of fame
My first church was, literally, in the middle of the national forest. Privately owned land was all along the highways and the church was a strong country church. Naturally, the congregation included a game warden, Buddy, who was also a deacon. The area was populated, infested some drivers might say, by deer and wild turkey. […]
You know that only about 80% of SBC churches are anglo, don’t you?
Dominant ethnic composition, in percentages, below for churches: Anglo 81.9 African American 7.0 Hispanic 4.7 Korean 1.6 Native American 0.8 Haitian 0.8 Chinese 0.4 Filipino […]
What would less autonomy look like?
I confess to giving this some thought but without much in the way of an answer. The call is often heard that “the SBC” should relinquish some of its cherished autonomy in order to keep kids safe at church. Here’s how the most recent case was explained. “The SBC views itself as a network of […]
This is the future of SBC missions
Atlanta area megachurch Johnson Ferry Baptist announced the results of their annual Great Commission Offering. It was suitably mega with over $5 million given. The offering was divided: $2.7m Lottie Moon, $1.7m Johnson Ferry missions budget, and $680k Annie Armstrong. That’s a single SBC church giving about 1.5% of the total Lottie Moon offering.
Phillip E. Johnson, my kind of creationist, RIP
When I first read Johnson’s book, Darwin on Trial, it was a revelation of a sort, my background being steeped in simple (“there’s oil because all the dead dinos sank to the bottom of the one-earth ocean”), succinct (“6,000 year old earth, ten thou at the max is all you’re going to be allowed if […]
CP sort of up for 2019-2020; designated giving definitely up
No one pays attention to Cooperative Program this early in the fiscal year (runs Oct 1 to Sep 30). Sage Baptist bean counters tell me to wait until January to see how things are going. But the Executive Committee gives a report every month, partly to keep their positive headline writing skills sharp, so I’d […]
And now “credible accusations of misconduct” has currency in the SBC because of Al Mohler
Abuse survivors and their advocates have long called for the creation and funding of an independent investigatory body in the SBC and staffed with experts on sex abuse. Part of the task of such a committee would be to investigate “credible reports” of abuse in SBC churches. So far as I know, no SBC leader […]