Jesus was no people pleaser. He wasn’t predictable or palatable or pandering or polite. Yet, He consistently and completely carried out His mission to bring ultimate glory to His Father. Sometimes He did that through speaking. Sometimes by remaining quiet. Sometimes He delivered harsh truths to people. Yes, He taught people their worth. But, He also taught […]
Is it ever too late to call police when sex abuse is reported?
Recent cases of sex abuse of minors in churches by church staff have raised a number of important questions. Perhaps the first question that current church leaders might need to answer is when a report of past abuse should be reported to the police. While blogs and comments are an important forum for discussing such […]
Silence Is NOT Golden
Surely you’ve heard by now that a former missionary with the IMB, Mark Aderholt, was arrested on July 3 and charged with sexually assaulting a teenager. The alleged crime took place 21 years ago when Aderholt was a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The IMB learned of the allegations made by Aderholt’s victim in […]
National Cooperative Program up $17 million while state CP down $41 million
When interim Executive Committee CEO Augie Boto made his report at #SBC18 he shared the graph below. While the subject is arcane to most Southern Baptists it is critical to leaders at the state and national level and what the graph shows is no surprise to those who must watch their revenue streams to […]
Can a woman serve as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention? (Casey Hough)
Much pontification has been digitally uploaded to this site recently regarding the question as to whether or or not it is appropriate for a woman to serve as President of the SBC. My friend Casey Hough offered his thoughts on this subject at his personal page on Thursday. I asked Casey if I could post his […]
Southwestern’s Potemkin village and other fascinating excursions in SBC vocabulary
Ben Cole, flung out of the sordid business of secular politics and back into the sordid business of denominational politics is perhaps the first to employ Potemkin village in our Grand Convention. Rather than Neil Sedaka as Ben suggests, better cue the Mussorgsky for SWBTS and change “Bald Mountain” to “Seminary Hill.” By blogging fiat, I declare complementarianism to […]
BREAKING NEWS: Data Breach at the IMB
The Biblical Recorder is reporting on a data breach at the IMB. Few details are available. This is no small matter since many of our missionaries serve in high-security areas and their identities are kept secret. Please read the BRNow.org article. If you aren’t subscribing to them, you should be. They are just about the […]
SBC & Politics: Why I Made a Motion to Exclude Politicians from the Annual Meeting (Dr. Marshal L. Ausberry, Sr.)
At the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention, I made a motion that beginning in 2019 the SBC would refrain from allowing elected officials to speak at the Convention. The exception was for the host Mayor or appropriate official to give a welcome greeting and to receive thanks from the Convention for hosting the Convention. The reason […]
Outside of the local church, who can do anything about SBC clergy who are sex abusers?
Who, aside from the local church or churches involved, can do anything about SBC clergy who are accused of sex abuse? The answer depends on what actions are considered or are to be taken. You may have read about the case of a Tennessee SBC pastor who resigned after accusations of his abusive behavior at […]
Complementarianism and the Future of the SBC
I resisted the temptation to go for the clickbait title this time. “Should the Women Keep Silent in the SBC?” Complementarianism is a doctrine established in the Baptist Faith and Message and disdained by our culture, even modern Christian culture. After nearly 2000 years of a fairly consistent understanding of the biblical truth about men […]
Understanding Diversity and Its Denominational Implications: Unmasking Marginalization as Southern Baptists (Vinh T. Nguyen)
Many memories have been etched into my mind in both the years I’ve spent as a minister and an academic, but one memory stands out in particular. I had just finished my third semester as a bible student at Ouachita Baptist University and was visiting the church I grew up in where my father-in-law was […]
An Uneven Banquet
While trying to wrestle with a friend’s question about pastoral ministry, I began thinking along the lines of this illustration. I share it here because it might be useful to you. If it’s not, then feel free to have the same old argument about everything in the comments. Here’s some words to help you with […]