Dave Miller

Baptist Press is reporting on a meeting of "SBC Conservatives" led by Kent Cochran, with about 20 people in attendance.  I have no idea who was there (the details of the meeting were kept secret and attendees names withheld).  I would make the following observations and points. 1)  The beauty of the SBC is that anyone can meet and can express their opinions.  We are a free church/free convention.  They let Wiley Drake speak about 500 times yesterday.  In reality, for all the talk by groups on all sides of being marginalized, no one in the SBC is marginalized.  Become a messenger, come to … [Read more...] about What is this Small Group of “Baptist Conservatives”?

Kevin Ezell's first NAMB report was pretty much boilerplate SBC agency reporting - testimonies, encouraging stories, videos of work being done.  That is not a criticism, it's a fact.  In these reports, the agency heads highlight the good work being done by their agency and they all follow a fairly similar pattern.  It is good to hear the good things that are happening through our SBC schools and missions agencies, but the reports do have a certain sameness. But then, Ezell engaged in some straight-shooting with the Phoenix crowd, helping us to "Define Reality".  He used Jesus statements in … [Read more...] about Straight Talk from Kevin Ezell

The motion to form the GCR study committee died the death of all SBC motions - referral. I thought there might be a move to.fight referral but it didn't happen, at least not yet. There was a."moment" during presidential nominations when Wiley Drake nonated himself after David Platt renominated Bryant Wright. My hope is that Wiley will get less than 1% as the SBC says a resounding no to his nonsense! There is a good.spirit here today. … [Read more...] about Convention Business

I have said for a long time that what the SBC needs right now is an Adrian Rogers, a statesman who can bring us together and unite us around the task that we have.  There is a lost and dying world.  Every day we awaken, the church has fallen farther behind in the task of evangelism and instead of accomplishing our work, the SBC is engaged in petty squabbles and distractions from our gospel task.  We need someone who can forge a trail for us. I believe that perhaps God has provided Dr. Frank Page for that role.  He just delivered a powerful and unifying report (well, part 1 of it) and I will … [Read more...] about Frank Page, Honesty, and the Executive Committee Report

Yesterday, at the meeting of the Executive Committee, a significant event took place. Every SBC agency head and seminary president along with state executive directors and ethnic fellowship leaders signed a document called the "Affirmation of Unity and Cooperation."  Here is the text in full. Affirmation of Unity and Cooperation We the undersigned affirm our commitment to cooperative ministry as a testimony of our unity in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. The passion which drives our unity is twofold: to clarify our evangelistic fervor for the souls of men and women across the nation and … [Read more...] about Coming Together: SBC Leaders’ “Affirmation of Unity and Cooperation”

At last year's SBC in Orlando, Dwight McKissic made a motion to add racism to homosexuality as sins that eliminated one from being in cooperation with the SBC.  The motion was referred (as is standard practice) and the convention voted down a follow-up motion to undo the referral and vote on it.  Many people (myself among them) were disappointed that the vote was not taken but we were hopeful that the Executive Committee would bring back a favorable report on the motion.  That did not happen.  They decided not to recommend the bylaws change.  Dwight McKissic's motion died. I have, for some … [Read more...] about SBC, Race and the Future: The Right Direction?

I would like to thank Vance Pitman for the work he did putting together this year's Pastor's Conference.  Originally, we were going to be part of the promotion for this event, but after all the controversy about Jamar Jones and TD Jakes, which we participated in here, we did not continue that partnership. And some of our contributors and commenters were dissatisfied with some of the choices made about speakers. But I wish to express my opinion that the Conference was one of the best managed I have seen and that it was, at least to me, encouraging and uplifting.  I did not get to hear … [Read more...] about To Vance Pitman: A Job Well Done

Statistically, things are looking bleak in the SBC right now.  But I have had my ear to the ground a little recently and have heard some things that give me hope.  I have to share some things that I cannot really source, because they were shared with me by people who were not interested in seeing their names in blogs.  You have my word that this is reliable information - for whatever that is worth. 1)  A highly placed executive within the SBC told me that there seems to be the start (at least) of a coming-together of the denominational structure, getting everyone pulling in the same … [Read more...] about Signs of Hope in the SBC

I listened to Johnny Hunt's message tonight at the Pastors' Conference.  Good message.  But he did take a couple of pretty solid shots at those of us who blog.  My first reaction was to get a little defensive and angry.  But then I thought that it might be good for us to listen to how we are perceived and to ask ourselves if some of the criticism is justified. Here is what he said (note that I took notes as quickly as I can type on my phone which isn't very quick, and so these are anything but full, accurate, quotes.  They are essentially Miller's Paraphrase of Hunt's tidbits of … [Read more...] about What I Thought When Johnny Hunt Tweaked Baptist Blogging