Dave Miller

I was surprised last night, when my wife and I dined at a local eatery, that our server had not heard the now infamous story of the lady in St. Louis, Alois Bell, pastor of a church of about 15 people, who lost her cool after an 18% gratuity was added to her bill. Applebees tacks that on automatically if a party is 8 or more people, even if you split the bill as Ms Bell did. Angered by the automatic amount, Ms. Bell crossed out the tip and added a message that said, "I give God 10%, why do you get 18?" She then took the extra step to sign her bill "Pastor Alois Bell." Well done. If you are … [Read more...] about Reflections on the Credit Card Receipt Heard Round the World

Haggai leveled an accusation against the people of God, that their priorities were out of order. They were more concerned about their own comfort and ease than they were about building the House of God. Several times, he called them to, "Give careful thought to your ways." Stop what you are doing and think about it, he demanded. Where is your life life headed? Are you on the right path? I think we have lost, by and large, the concept of self-reflection and repentance in much of  the modern church. I had two conversations recently that brought this issue to my attention. First, I … [Read more...] about The Lost Art of Self-Reflection and Repentance

One positive sign, as of this writing, there were 3179 dislikes on YouTube and only 138 likes. To treat the death of 55 million pre-born babies as fodder for this kind of humor is reprehensible. … [Read more...] about Just When You Think the Death Culture Can’t Sink Any Lower…

One of my closest ministry friends called me this week and asked me for advice about pre-marital counseling. What approach did I take? What materials did I use? Could I recommend books? Let me share a secret with you: After 31 years of doing weddings, I still feel like I stink (substitute the semi-inappropriate word that is more accurate) at pre-marital counseling. In my own humble but correct opinion, I am a Jedi master at funerals. I am okay at helping a couple plan, prepare and perform a wedding ceremony. But premarital counseling is a real struggle. It all started with one of my … [Read more...] about Forum: Tell Me About Your Pre-Marital Counseling

There is an interesting new website called SBCJobs.net (twitter - @sbcjobsnet; Facebook - here) to help churches and pastors find each other. I've wandered through the site to get a feel for it. It is well constructed, easy to navigate and very useful. If you are part of a church that has a job opening, I would encourage you to use the site. If you are in search of a ministry position, I would also recommend the site. Here is a press release from SBCJobs.net: SBCjobs.net Launches as New Premium Job Board for SBC Ministers, Churches, and Entities NASHVILLE, Tenn. — We are excited to … [Read more...] about SBCJobs.net: A New Website for SBC Ministry Placement

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)