Dave Miller

Permit me to state some facts before I begin my rant. I am a lifelong teetotaler. My only experiences with alcohol have been medicinal or accidental. I have never purposely taken a drink. I was raised that way and I have no desire to live any other way. I am not a prohibitionist. I believe that efforts to classify wine in the Bible as grape juice border on the silly. People drank alcoholic beverages and the Bible does not call that sin. There are warnings in the Bible about choosing what is wise, about avoiding the consequences of alcohol abuse, and strict prohibitions against … [Read more...] about I Hate Alcohol

It has been a weird week. I headed down to Florida planning to do some painting, yard work, and general handyman stuff on my parents' home and as we headed down the specter of a tropical storm named Dorian was raised. At first, it looked like it might be a minor hurricane but it began to grow and pretty soon it was being talked about as the biggest Atlantic hurricane ever with a sharply defined eye headed straight for the Ft. Pierce/Vero Beach area where my parents lived. We fastened the storm shutters and got ready, and we waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Dorian decided to … [Read more...] about Does God Love Florida More than the Bahamas?

As I mentioned in my last post, I am in Florida working my mom and dad's home. Today, I fixed up a bathroom and did a little puttering around the place. Nothing major. Then, about noon, my sister called. She lives about 45 minutes south of here in northern Palm Beach County and she'd been cavalier about tropical storm Dorian that was headed this way. She's lived here most of her life and has seen hurricanes come and go. Today, when she called, the cavalier attitude was gone. Dorian has strengthened and is now expected to be a Category 4 hurricane when it hits us. For those of you with SEC … [Read more...] about This is NO Way to Welcome a Guest

I remember having a light-hearted discussion with a lady during my first ministry as a youth pastor in Tequesta, Florida. She was chiding me about something and I was pleading my youth and inexperience as an excuse. I remember her words. "Pretty soon, that excuse will no longer fly." I am in a plane right now on my way to meet my wife in Raleigh. The logistics are complicated but she was in Cincinnati helping our youngest daughter and her husband move into their new home. My little baby now owns a house. Wow. From Raleigh, we are heading to Florida to visit my parents. Dad just turned … [Read more...] about On the Downhill Run

When there are many words, sin is unavoidable, but the one who controls his lips is prudent. Proverbs 10:19 probably should be my "life verse." I have not committed a lot of physical sins in my life - no adultery, violence, no bank robberies - but I have not avoided the sins of the tongue. One of my siblings asked me once, half in jest and half in exasperation, "Don't you ever just shut up?" Jenni gets frustrated at my tendency to engage strangers in conversation while waiting in line at the grocery. I am a talker. I haven't always learned the wisdom of not talking (insert your joke … [Read more...] about Donald Trump, Evangelicals, and Blasphemy

I do not deal with comments nearly as much as I used to, for several reasons - some noble and others not so much. In the "not so much" category, I find myself tiring of answering the same questions and responding to the same criticisms over and over again. So, I am putting together a post answering some of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) or Frequently Made Criticisms (FMCs) with my answers. I may make this a permanent page and then I can just link people to it, or copy/paste answers. I know, first of all, that I am sometimes impatient with people. You may be making a criticism or … [Read more...] about SBC Voices is BIASED: Some FAQ (FMC?) about SBC Voices

Friday, August 2, 2019, a friend of mine, one I had never met in real life but had grown to love through online contacts, found out what S.M. Lockridge meant when he said, "Sunday's Coming." It is a bit weird, but many of my best friends are people that I met through blogging. One of those, a man I have known since my earliest days of commenting on other people's blogs, is Dr. C.B. Scott. His hard-headedness matches the strength of his convictions and his integrity. I think I have argued more passionately (I'd call it angrily, but...) with him than just about anyone else in the blogging … [Read more...] about It’s Friday, Sunday’s Coming: In Memory of Karen Scott

I have been preaching a long series on Sunday mornings on the Holy Spirit and am currently going through 1 Corinthians 12. As a part of my Sunday message on verses 4-6, I ended up in Hebrews 11, don't ask me how. I took my people through a favorite section of the "Hall of Faith" and showed them one of those passages of Scripture I call, "Verses We Don't Really Believe." We believe the whole Bible, of course, but we don't REALLY believe those verses about loving our enemies, returning good for evil, giving thanks for everything, and a host of others - you get me? In Hebrews 11, we read about … [Read more...] about Failing by Faith: Verses We Baptists Don’t REALLY Believe

I understand why people want to know what entity presidents make. I do, too. If a secret email was circulating the interwebs with the salary packages and someone said I could have the password to open the email for $10, I’d probably be asking if they take PayPal or Cashapp. I am as curious as the next guy. I have written on this topic previously and expressed my views. In my mind, my curiosity is not a sufficient reason to break protocol on confidentiality and to violate the trustee system. I do not believe that I have a legitimate claim, even as a pastor whose churches, over the last 40 … [Read more...] about Some Questions about Salaries and Our Entity Presidents