I became the interim editor of SBC Voices about a month ago. You may have noticed that nothing has drastically changed around here. I don’t have some grand vision for the site. I’m just holding the fort down for a few months while our fearless leader focuses on the Pastor’s Conference. But I thought it would be good for me to give you an idea of my philosophy in leading the site. So, like a good Baptist preacher, I have three points.
- It’s called SBC Voices
This is a blog focused on the Southern Baptist Convention. Prior to becoming a contributor and now interim editor, I did not come to SBC Voices to do my devotions. I came here to discuss things going on within the Southern Baptist Convention. I came to get news that I had not seen in other places, and discuss that news with people of various perspectives. I intend to maintain that focus.
We do sometimes post articles that are more devotional in nature. We do post articles about various things going on within the broader evangelical world. Some political posts even showed up here from time to time during the election.
But this blog is primarily about the SBC. You can submit articles that are not even remotely related to the SBC and I will consider them. You can certainly submit articles that are loosely related, and they will likely be posted. But the highest priority will be given to articles addressing SBC related issues.
- It’s called SBC Voices.
Okay, this point is the same as the first one. But the emphasis is now on the last word. This site is not about one voice. I desire to have various viewpoints represented on the site. The goal is not to provide a platform for myself and those agree with me. My goal is to have posts that represent a variety of viewpoints across the spectrum of SBC life.
Now, there are limits. Strongly worded posts are fine. Vitriolic hit pieces won’t be posted. It may sometimes appear that SBC Voices is pro this or that. Perhaps it seems that we are on one particular side of a certain issue. If it appears that way, it’s because those are the articles that have been written and submitted.
If you see an article about an issue in SBC life, and you have a different opinion, write an article from your perspective. Send it to me at pastoradamblosser[at]gmail[dot]com. And if it’s a well-written article providing a differing perspective, I’ll be happy to post it. So, keep that in mind as you read. Me allowing an article to be posted does not equal endorsement.
- Light-handed comment moderation.
Everyone has a different idea about this one. I do not like to delete comments. I much prefer to allow the discussion to go on without my interference. That doesn’t mean I’ll never interfere. We’ve had some racists show up before who needed to be shut down and were. Sometimes things turn personal, and I do not plan to allow that. But for the most part, I will allow the discussion to continue.
One of the things that makes this site great is the comments section. It is a place where Southern Baptists can come to discuss the various issues within our convention. It’s good to hear from other pastors and laypeople outside our local areas. It’s good to hear perspectives that are different from our own. It challenges us. And it either causes us to change our mind, or it helps us articulate why it is that we believe what we believe.
I believe I’ve benefited from this site since I first discovered it several years ago. I hope many of you have as well. I trust that SBC Voices will continue to be a place where diverse opinions are welcomed and where civil discourse can flourish.
Dave has done a great job with the site, and you are doing so, as well.
Thanks for making this forum available.
Good job. I like that some new voices have articles.
Well said. Our one aim, our single focus is to see the lost get saved. We may not agree on some topics, but we need to listen, really listen to each other and remind ourselves who is really important…Jesus. Thank you for what you do as our moderator for this forum.
I pushed back on Adam a little about the comments. In general I favor a hands-off comments approach and this website has done well with most participants contributing to healthy discussion.
We’ve also had some unhealthy practices displayed and I’ve asked Adam if it’s better to intervene more often than we do. I’m not talking about censoring viewpoints. I’m talking about general practices that cause the comments section to break down and become unhelpful. A few examples:
I wonder if we should delete comments that contain false accusations. Why let tabloid rumors and false statements stick around here for our audience? The problem is who determines what qualifies. But there are surely some instances that qualify. Or is it better to leave it and let people respond? We had one a few weeks ago about a state Baptist paper’s budget. That commenter ended up apologizing, to his credit. We had one yesterday about an entity head that was not apologized for.
I wonder if we should limit comment post length, or the number of comments people can leave on one article. It’s one thing to have a lot to contribute on a subject you know a lot about. It’s another thing for certain people to essentially take over the comments with article-length posts, rebuttals to every other comment, basically taking it upon themselves to flood the comments section with their viewpoint, rather than a concise, well-argued statement that promotes understanding and dialogue.
I wonder if we should stop people from repeated ranting— getting on their hobby-horse issue no matter what the subject of the post. Its understandable for any of us once in a while to rant about something that’s on our minds, but some people are determined to make any subject about what they want to talk about, which is selfish, plain and simple. And it reduces the value of the comments section because it prevents discussion about the topic our authors spent time thinking and writing about.
I find SBC Voices to the a great forum for both laymen and pastors in the SBC world.
The thing that makes this site especially valuable to me is that it is accessible to the “guy in the pew”. If only pastors and denominational people were hanging out here then there would be a vacuum. Layman should be interested in what is going on. After all, it is us layman that are paying the lion’s share of the bills to keep the operations of the SBC and all of its constituent churches going.
As a layman myself I often wonder, “What is animating various groups in the SBC”? Why are various power blocks on this or that crusade? What are the forces at work which define the trajectory of the continued existence of the SBC as a cooperative body?
Why does the CP seem to be undergoing a slow continental drift to demise? Is this a natural outworking of the fact that individual churches want to do their own thing instead of subcontracting evangelism and missions to some board in Richmond or Alpharetta?
Why not send your own team to Chad rather than paying some other guys to function as your emissaries? The advent of world wide aviation makes it now feasible to go. Just a couple of generations ago it took weeks or months to go anyplace.
One thing that is fueling this change is that now, as a result of a changing distribution of wealth in the USA, there is a subset of people in the pews of SBC churches with both the time and money to do stuff. They can take four weeks off from their job and they can afford to spend $5000 to go. In my parents generation, back in the 1930s during the great depression, 99% of the people in the pews didn’t have the financial means, nor did the technology exist, to enable “hands on” mission endeavors.
My father grew up in Oklahoma during the dust bowl. He didn’t have a dime. His son — me — is here in the same geographical place. But I’d say our life experience is light-years apart. For example, his family had a broken down pickup. They were dirt poor. I’m driving a C6 Corvette.
I don’t think it is necessarily a given that the SBC as we know it will exist in 50 years from now. There won’t be a need for it six separate seminaries. The breadth of the role of whatever mission boards we have will likely me much narrower.
I don’t see how the genie can be put back in the jar. One of the residual parts of the SBC that is going on in the wealthy suburbs of Nashville [Brentwood}, Birmingham [Vestavia Hills], Atlanta [Buckhead}, Dallas [Preston Road / Plano / Frisco], Orange County [Irvine / Mission Viejo / Lake Forest . . .] is going to likely have an outsized role in molding the course of what was the SBC. In the same way that the country is splitting into two demographic groups [roughly “rich and poor with no middle class”] could it be that the same thing will happen to the SBC. Taking this to its logical conclusion will the de-facto situation be that we will have “two” SBCs?
If we are on this trajectory, then no wonder we are having so many growing pains right now. Who is to say that these demographic trends are either good or bad?
A locomotive is charging at full steam ahead and it is just around the bend. It is coming to a grade crossing near you — ready or not.
Roger OKC
Adam, I’ll take your post as an opportunity to share. I’ve been posting on discussion boards and blogs for a long time. Those who know me or have interacted with me know that I am not a Southern Baptist, but it is good from time to time to remind others who might want to put an “asterisk” on my posts. As Baptists we share many of the same interests and same concerns (e.g., theological beliefs, ecclesiological practices and moral principles). In discussing these interests and concerns, we can benefit from one another. Issues relevant to Southern Baptists aren’t necessarily relevant to only Southern Baptists. Further, we don’t live in a vacuum. Some of my family are in your churches and some of your family are in mine.
I try to be both cautious and respectful. For example, I can address the topic of religious liberty while avoiding the issue of whether Russ Moore should be the head of the ERLC or whether the SBC should even have an ERLC. And sometimes you can use the observations of an outside observer.
Just my thoughts and a reminder.