Dave Miller

If you live in the south, your Baptist association is a different thing than it is here in Iowa. Our state convention has a little over 100 churches, most of which struggle to become self-supporting. Your association is probably larger than our state convention. Some associations in the south have more employees than our state convention, and perhaps larger budgets. Until recent priority changes from NAMB, our associations had missionaries funded through NAMB. In Iowa, we had 7 associations and 5 DOMS (they change the NAMB designation about every 3 weeks; I can't keep up with what the … [Read more...] about Do Associations Have a Future in New-Work SBC States?

                      Just saying... … [Read more...] about Bearded Gospel Men?

I remain in somewhat the same position concerning this idea that I was last night when I wrote the previous post. It is a wild idea and I'm not sure whether is will work or even whether it should work. There are some issues. But there are also some things that I really like about this idea and I thought I would delineate those in a follow-up post here today. I thought about just altering the last one, or adding this as a comment, but I had nothing waiting to post, so here goes. Here are some of the things I like about Bart's marriage contract. 1) It encourages engaged couples to think … [Read more...] about What I Like about Bart Barber’s Marriage Contract (Follow-up Post)

Bart Barber has been one of my favorite bloggers for years, even when he infuriates or annoys me, or disagrees with me - a sin I consider unforgivable. I like bloggers who make me think, who bring a new, fresh perspective to a discussion instead of rehashing the same old stuff over and over and over. When there is a hot topic, you will often see a flurry of posts that give variants of the same view. With Bart (for good or ill) you usually get something new and fresh. Wow, has he outdone himself this time. I am concerned that he has lost his ever-loving mind. Dude may have moved to … [Read more...] about Has Bart Barber Lost His Mind? You Make the Call

I was browsing the Cedarville University Website today, trying to find a tax document I needed, when I saw this video entitled "The Dream" that had been posted yesterday on MLK Day. I thought it was really good.  Of course, it is possible that I am biased, I don't know. I was present when the author and performer of this piece was born. Her name is Bethany Miller, and she is my favorite daughter. She hates it when I post stuff here that she has done, but she will get over it! It was a promotional video for a racial reconciliation event Cedarville was hosting. … [Read more...] about Bethany Miller: “The Dream” (from Cedarville University’s Website)

I was ten years old when Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered in Memphis. I remember that we were watching TV when reports came in about his death. I did not really know who he was or why his death was significant. I did know that it was a time of racial strife. The news was filled with reports of riots and unrest and I understood that there was trouble in our nation, but I did not have the grasp on national affairs to understand it. I can remember when I was in 8th or 9th grade, I did a report on the "I Have a Dream" speech of August 28, 1963. I was amazed and inspired by those words. But … [Read more...] about Reflecting on the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

My church is working to upgrade our technological and organizational structure. One of the things we are considering is purchasing and subscribing to a "Church Management System" software package. Do any of your churches use such a software? Are you impressed? Upset? Tell me what you know about Church Management software. … [Read more...] about Discussion Forum: Do You Use Church Management Software?

I've had plenty of practice in recent years. I'm a sports fan (in case anyone doesn't know that) and over the last few years I've watched as many of my athletic heroes have fallen flat on their faces. Man, I hated Roger Clemens - everything about him. Then, he donned the pinstripes and I have to admit that it took a while for me to warm to him. But I did. I really did. I remember watching Roger walk off the mound for the last time, with a tear in my eye. And then it turned out that his greatness likely came from a syringe. I cheered for Tiger Woods when he was a scrawny little kid winning … [Read more...] about When Your Hero Falls

Do you ever read a passage of Scripture and think that Paul (or another biblical author) may have had a prophetic vision of blogging when he wrote it? In reality, the issues that come up in blogging are not new, they are just human foibles in a new format. Social media does not create new problems; it simply reveals old ones in a new way. I was reading a post at Mike Leake's site, Borrowed Light, which had a link to an article at "Gentle Reformation" called, "Short Rules of Blogging." In that post, the author quoted a verse from 2 Timothy 2, and it drove me to get the Bible out and read that … [Read more...] about Paul’s Admonitions to Bloggers (Well, to Timothy)

I've been preaching through Acts on Sunday nights and I keep getting more confused as time goes on. You see, I went to seminary and I got me an edumacation and lots o' book-learning. I've been to evangelism conferences and training sessions. And, with all that I have learned about evangelism and cultural engagement, I am left with only one conclusion: Those poor folks in the church in Jerusalem just didn't get it. They did not know the effective evangelism strategies that we have learned today and they didn't know what we now know about engaging our culture in a positive and tolerant way. … [Read more...] about Evidently, the Early Church Didn’t Know How to Do Evangelism!