Tomorrow the full trustee board of Southwestern Seminary will meet to discuss what action, if any, will be taken in light of the recent controversy surrounding the seminary’s president, Dr. Paige Patterson. No one knows what to expect. The Baptist Press story linked above indicates that Patterson himself requested the meeting. The trustees’ decision will […]
Announcing the SBC Leadership Diversity Initiative
In the preface to Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “That part of the line where I thought I could serve best was also the part that seemed to be thinnest. And to it I naturally went.” We see a need in the Southern Baptist Convention, and our desire is to provide a means to strengthen that […]
Breaking News: Patterson Issues Another Statement, “An Apology to God’s People”
This afternoon Southwestern Seminary released another statement from Dr. Paige Patterson. This follows an April 29 statement from him and a May 1 Statement on Abuse from Patterson and the Board of Trustees’ Executive Committee. It also follows a widely-circulated open letter to SWBTS trustees from SBC women and a more recent, similar letter from […]
The Mess We Are In: Can We Say “Enough Is Enough”?
A few days ago, Dave Miller shared his thoughts on the “Patterson brouhaha” in this post: A Few Words about the Patterson Saga. In my opinion, it was balanced, honest, and gracious. As I reflected on Dave’s post, I started to wonder: How exactly did we get in this mess? Make no mistake, it is […]
GoFundMe Available for SWBTS Student Fired for Tweet
Nathan Montgomery is the SWBTS seminary student & former employee who was fired this week for tweeting Ed Stetzer’s article critical of Paige Patterson. According to media reports, Montgomery will lose $40,000 in salary and $7,000 in tuition benefits per year as a result of not longer being employed as catering manager. Sarah Pulliam Bailey […]
TGC Profiles Summit Church’s Incredible Sending Capacity
If you want to get fired up about how a local church can develop a culture of sending its members on mission, go read the Gospel Coalition’s profile of Summit Church. Titled How One Baptist Church Has Seven Times More Missionaries Than Anyone Else, Sarah Zylstra details the history of Summit: From a church plant, to quickly […]
New SBC Voices Site Design & Features
We’ve been talking about it for a while now, and finally over the past week we’ve been rolling out an update to the website. We hope you’ll enjoy the new look and features. The visual changes may be the first thing you notice, but we hope you’ll see some improvements in other areas too, particularly […]
Felix Cabrera to Be Nominated for SBC Second Vice President
Felix Cabrera, Pastor of Iglesia Bautista Central in Oklahoma City, will be nominated for SBC Second Vice President. The initial announcement came Friday afternoon through Baptist Press. Pastor Ed Litton (Redemption Church, Mobile, Alabama) will nominate Cabrera at the Annual Meeting in Dallas, June 12-13. Cabrera’s list of accomplishments and service are impressive. You can see all the […]
Dr. A. B. Vines to Be Nominated for SBC First Vice President
Baptist Press just reported that Dr. Johnny Hunt will nominate Dr. A. B. Vines for SBC First Vice President this summer at the Annual Meeting in Dallas. Vines is pastor of New Seasons Church in San Diego, President of the California Southern Baptist Convention, and is a recent past president of the National African American Fellowship […]
Understanding Each Other & the Best Way to Respond to Charlottesville
I’ve been trying to figure out why people are getting so angry at each other about the events in Charlottesville this past weekend. Discussion has turned heated in almost irrational ways as we’ve tried to discuss and make sense of how we should respond to what happened. And here’s the thing— virtually everyone here at […]
Bruce Ashford series on the alt-right
Bruce Ashford has written an incredibly helpful 4-part series on the alt-right movement and how evangelicals should respond to it. Not only is this worth your time for reading and your own understanding, but many church members will likely have questions about Resolution 10 and what the SBC meant when it passed a resolution condemning […]
H. B. Charles Lays Out Vision for 2018 Pastors’ Conference
Last week the news broke that H. B. Charles would be nominated for President of the 2018 SBC Pastors’ Conference. It was big news and widely welcomed in news and social media. Brad Graves, who had previously been announced as a nominee withdrew his name from consideration in support of Charles’ nomination, which made a […]