Baptist Press has an article today regarding the amicus brief that the International Mission Board joined last May in support of a New Jersey Islamic Society’s right to build a mosque. There has been a lot of talk across our convention over the last few weeks regarding this brief. The brief was actually filed last year, but the recent talk was triggered by an IMB trustee’s decision to resign over the issue. Some, like myself, had concerns about the IMB’s participation in the filing of the brief. I have no problem with the ERLC’s participation. There are legitimate religious liberty … [Read more...] about Thank You, David Platt
A Video Interview with Michael Allen
This year's SBC Pastor's Conference is June 11-12 in Phoenix, Arizona. The conference will feature 12 preachers who all come from average-size SBC churches. They will be preaching through the book of Philippians over the course of the two day conference. As you know, last week was the colloquium at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for this year's SBC Pastor's Conference speakers. The speakers for the conference gathered to get to know one another and study Philippians with Dr. David Allen and other preaching faculty members from SWBTS and NOBTS. I had the privilege of … [Read more...] about A Video Interview with Michael Allen
When You Get a Chance to Practice What You Preach
I’ve been preaching through the book of Acts on Sunday mornings at the church I pastor. My hope is that God would use this study in our lives to give us a more outward focus. We have lots of good programs designed for people to come and be ministered to. But we haven’t recently done a very good job of going to our neighbors. Our outreach and missions efforts locally, nationally, and internationally have been lacking. We finished Acts 5 on Sunday, and I have been harping on boldness in the gospel. Peter was a coward when he denied Jesus three times on the night that He was arrested. … [Read more...] about When You Get a Chance to Practice What You Preach
It’s A Wrap
Whew! I am flying home as I type this, and I'm exhausted. If I'm this tired, I can only imagine how an old guy like Dave feels. If you haven't already figured it out from my previous posts about the colloquium, we had a great two days at Southwestern. Everything was top notch. I am confident that the colloquium will help the conference preachers tremendously as they prepare to proclaim the Word of God this summer in Phoenix. My primary job today was to do a brief video interview of all 11 preachers who attended the colloquium. Those videos will show up here on SBC Voices over the next … [Read more...] about It’s A Wrap
Day 2 of the SBC PC Colloquium at SWBTS
It's been a very busy day. The speakers had a session this morning with Dr. Allen. I missed most of the information from that session because I was filming interviews with the speakers. Those interviews will show up here at SBC Voices in the near future. Going to the Chapel After the session we headed over to the chapel on campus. The chapel is a beautiful facility that was built since Dr. Patterson became President at Southwestern. Dr. Patterson told us yesterday that the facility was designed to be conducive to preaching. The purpose of going over to the chapel was to give the … [Read more...] about Day 2 of the SBC PC Colloquium at SWBTS
Day 1 of the SBC PC Colloquium at SWBTS
We had a great first day. Dave and I have both written about some of the first events of the day, but I want to give you a brief update before I hit the hay. Our First Session with Dr. Allen Dr. David Allen knocked it out of the park in our first session this afternoon with his lecture on text-driven preaching. Lots of people call their preaching expository, but often it is not text-driven. Southwestern is committed to teaching text-driven preaching in their brand new School of Preaching of which Dr. Allen is the dean. Text-driven preaching is where the main point of the text is the … [Read more...] about Day 1 of the SBC PC Colloquium at SWBTS
And We’re Off!
It's always a little bit disorienting when you wake up in one place, and by early afternoon are in another place. I woke up in Virginia and am now in Fort Worth, Texas at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I've already been encouraged by what I have heard thus far. The colloquium began at 3pm today. After brief introductions, we then had the opportunity to hear from Dr. Patterson for about 15 minutes. Dr. Patterson has been extremely helpful to the Pastor's Conference in so many ways. We cannot adequately express our gratitude. There were three main focuses of Dr. … [Read more...] about And We’re Off!
Texas Bound and Flyin’
This morning I am boarding a plane for Dallas, Texas. The Pastor’s Conference team is headed to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for the much awaited speaker colloquium. All 12 of our speakers will be gathering today and tomorrow to meet one another and study Philippians together. The speakers will also be subject to photography and interviews for the purpose of conference promotion. A few members of our team are tagging along for various reasons. My purpose for being there is to use SBC Voices to let you know how things are going and promote the conference. So check back often … [Read more...] about Texas Bound and Flyin’
Against the New England Patriots
I have decided that it’s time to take a stand. Below you will find a resolution I will be submitting to the Resolutions Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention for their consideration for our 2017 Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. Aside from the Pastor’s Conference, voting on this resolution may be the most important thing we do in Phoenix. WHEREAS, Southern Baptists are a people who hate what is evil and love what is good; and WHEREAS, Southern Baptists are known for their bold stands against many of the cultural evils of our day such as Disney World, Target, and Starbucks; … [Read more...] about Against the New England Patriots
Degrees of Separation
Some among us were recently up in arms over the decision by Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC to call a lesbian couple as co-pastors. The story was even covered by The Washington Post. When I first read the story at the Baptist News Global site, I shrugged my shoulders. It wasn’t that I approved of the decision or felt that it was right in any way, but I wasn’t surprised. This same church—and I use the word “church” very loosely in this case—ordained a transgender person to ministry in 2014. If they would ordain a transgender person, why was anyone surprised that they would also … [Read more...] about Degrees of Separation