Archives for 2013

Joel Rainey is the Director of Missions at Mid-Maryland Baptist Association, an adjunct professor at Capital Bible Seminary and blogs at Themelios (Twitter - @joelrainey). This post was originally published at his site. The following is based in experiences I've had with churches I've consulted with over more than 20 years of service in ministry. Over that time, I have become convinced that we have perfected the pathology by which we can accelerate the decline and eventual demise of a local church. I've seen the following happen in different orders, with different emphases, and I can … [Read more...] about A Five-Fold Strategy Guaranteed to Kill Your Church (by Joel Rainey)

You've heard some of the shocking statistics. As much as 30% of all Internet bandwidth may be delivering pornography to someone. People on Google search for porn-related terms more than anything else, by a huge margin. But within that broad category of "pornography," do you know what, exactly, people are trying to find? A recent news article caught my attention when it offered an answer to this question. This recent report (compiled by a pornography search site) identifies the three top pornographic search terms for each state in the United States. I read the entire list. What I found is … [Read more...] about Pornography and Pedophilia

Next time you are in a group of preachers, listen to the conversation. Within 5 minutes, the topic of discussion is likely to be how busy each one is. We wear our busyness like a badge of honor; justifying our existence, our ministry and our paychecks by the activity we perform. When I was a youth pastor (back before fire and the wheel), I would spend a lot of time just hanging out with the teens in the group. We played cards together. I went running with some of them. We went to movies together. I thought that if I was going to be their youth pastor, I had to be part of their lives. I … [Read more...] about Just a Thought about Busyness – That’s All I Have Time For….

He looked as if he had accidentally been thrown into the dryer with a load of socks. His clothes were disheveled, his hair was unkempt and his eyes told the story of a man dizzied by life. Then he said it… “I’m not sure that I’m supposed to be married to my wife”. As I questioned his statement he gave a well-reasoned defense. He explained that he married his wife against the counsel of his parents, his pastor, and his Christian friends. They all reminded him that God’s Word says we are not to be unequally yoked to unbelievers. He ignored their counsel, went to Las Vegas, and eloped with the … [Read more...] about How Do You Know If You Were Supposed To Marry Your Spouse?

One of the oddities of life in the internet age is that I have some very close friends whom I have never met in real life. Mike Leake is among those men. We exchange emails often. Mike has a sense of humor very close to mine. If you saw our exchanges, you might think we need some sort of arbitration to work out of our differences. I send him insulting emails and tweets and he responds in kind. I mean, folks, the guy cheers for the Kansas City Royals and he makes (I'm not joking here) the worst predictions on NFL games that you will find. I would be tempted to read his predictions and bet … [Read more...] about Is Christian Humor an Oxymoron?

Paul’s Pastoral Landscape, Is it Like Ours? An alarming trend to give up   The American pastoral landscape today is bleak.  Fewer and fewer men are committed or sold-out to serving Christ.  By committed and sold-out, I mean willing to go through the greatest of difficulties, and not give up.  I’ll take it a step further and say, there is an unwillingness to go through those difficulties with Christ-like humility and honor.  It might be ministry did not turn out the way you expected; maybe you did not end up in the “hotspot.”  Whatever the situation and circumstances, I am concerned by … [Read more...] about Paul’s Pastoral Landscape; Is it Like Ours???

I conducted a little experiment several months ago. I joined LinkedIn. LinkedIn is "a business-oriented social networking site…mainly used for professional networking." After I joined LinkedIn, the site instructed me to complete my profile. The profile included basic biographical information, the content of my C.V., and a listing of skills. I completed all of the requested information. Boy, did I! And this was the whole point of my experiment from the get-go. I listed more skills than you can possibly imagine. Everything I even remotely have the ability to do, I listed. Now—and this … [Read more...] about LinkedIn Lying (by Bart Barber)

Dear Olivia, I feel like this is a good year to write you this letter. You’re twelve now. You’re starting to learn a lot more about how the world works, and there are some things that I think you need to know. I want to start off, though, with an apology that I think I owe you. I don’t feel compelled to offer the same apology to your younger siblings, but I owe it to you. You see, you are not growing up in the world that your Mom and I brought you into. Some things changed between your birth day and your first birthday. Those changes showed me that you are growing up in the wrong … [Read more...] about Reflecting on Twelve Years (by Doug Hibbard)

No, Mike Leake is not publishing today and this is not a spoof. Joel Rainey, whose posts appear on SBC Voices regularly, is appearing in primetime tomorrow night on Al Jazeera America's television network. Here is the press release information I received. Dr. Joel Rainey, Director of Missions for Mid-Maryland Baptist Association, will be appearing on “The Stream,” a national news program on the Al Jazeera America Network, at 7:30 PM (Eastern) this Wednesday. This edition of the show will occur on the 12th anniversary of September 11, 2001, and will feature Dr. Rainey alongside religious … [Read more...] about Joel Rainey to Appear on Al-Jazeera America Network Wednesday Night