SBC Voices

I am grateful for the $5,000,000 scholarship commitment named in honor of Garland Offfutt, the first African American graduate of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. It certainly represents fruit worthy of repentance. It speaks to the past and to the future. Hats off to Dr. Mohler and the trustee board for this historic decision that […]

Here in the Peach State which is not even one of the swing or battleground states this election is like no other in some ways. We’ve got the candidate from Q-Anon, or that’s what her opponents say. We’ve got the Hezbollah candidate, or at least that’s what a friend from the middle east said when […]

If you were raised by someone normal, you have my condolences. My dad, Lew Miller, was one of the pioneer Southern Baptist pastors in the state of Iowa. At one point, Immanuel Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids gave about 70% of the Cooperative Program money in the state. We left Immanuel to go to Taichung, […]

The administration of Mid-America Baptist Seminary asked me to write an essay on Baptist confessions of faith and Baptist distinctives. You can find the entire essay here: The discussion of Baptist distinctives must wait for an explanation of Baptist confessions. This is because Baptist distinctives are derived from Baptist confessions, which are based on the […]

It’s called The COOPERATIVE Program, not the Cooperative Program CAFETERIA. Necessary background reading  (not that anyone actually reads relevant articles): Alaska Baptists vote to withhold CP funds, this is a thorough article by George Schroeder, associate VP at the SBC Executive Committee. If you think Schroeder’s piece is biased then show me how. Quotes from both […]

The three most important offerings for Southern Baptists are the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions and the Cooperative Program. How are these faring in the age of COVID? The numbers are in. Here’s how we’re doing. Lottie Moon Christmas Offering total exceeds goal at […]

Why are “professing” followers of Jesus not being a major part of the solution to our broken and divided American culture? I have been thinking a lot lately about where we have missed it over the years in training up believers to worship the person of King Jesus, and to delightfully be “all in” with […]

LifeWay’s CEO, Ben Mandrell, and their Trustee officers have brought a lawsuit against Thom Rainer (in apparent contradiction of Scripture). They announced that they were ending the lawsuit to seek a peaceful resolution, but it was later found that this was not the case. They were only “suspending” their legal action during negotiations. Thom Rainer […]

It appears that LifeWay Trustees may be realizing the damaging optics of this lawsuit they instigated against Thom Ranier, the well-respected former CEO of LifeWay. I was given a statement distributed by Todd Fannin, Chairman of the Board, written to the Trustees, but released to the press. The Trustee Executive Committee met today to discuss […]

Are you planning to join 10,000 of your closest friends in Nashville in June for the SBC Annual Meeting? If so, make sure you are at your computer at 9am EDT tomorrow (October 1) so you can make your hotel reservation. The website is sbcannualmeeting.net. I’m told there are over 1,400 hotel rooms for messengers […]

This seemed as though it was worthy of a follow-up article. Dr. Rainer responded to Robert Downen (one of the best religion journalists in America) of the Houston Chronicle. His response is even more troubling, calling LifeWay’s actions into question. It seems as though LifeWay is jumping to the lawsuit without much of an effort […]