Thom Rainer surprised the SBC by announcing his pending retirement from LifeWay. He will retire when he his replacement is found or in one year, whichever comes first. In an article entitled, “Why I Am Retiring from LifeWay” Dr. Rainer explains his reasons for the move. He is leaving on his own terms, in his […]
Tragedy Should Never Be a Political Platform
For the last few weeks, those of us here in Iowa have been following the story of a missing University of Iowa student named Mollie Tibbetts. She was staying in her boyfriend’s home to watch his dog while he was gone for a few days to work. She went out jogging one evening this summer […]
George Washington, Political Parties, and Why I Am Now Independent
My wife and I watched the Amazon Prime hagiography on George Washington, “The First American,” guided by the hand of Newt Gingrich, whose political views were imprinted on the show from start to finish. But it was well put-together and demonstrated both the strength of character of George Washington and the unique genius of the […]
If I Could Travel in Time…
Young Dave and Jenni At age 60, with something pretty close to a clean bill of health from my doctor, I have no intentions of dropping out of ministry any time soon. I don’t know if I have five years, or fifteen, or twenty-five left in active ministry. I am planning to keep preaching and […]
An “SBC Voices Miracle”
I will never forget the Tuesday back in late March or early April when my friend, Dr. Janice Galli, called me just after suppertime. I had been sick since I returned from Senegal at the end of February and she finally said it was time to check things out. We ran about 4 million tests […]
Greear to Form Presidential Study Group
SBC President J.D. Greear has announced that he will form a Sexual Abuse Presidential Study Group in partnership with the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. He has not yet announced those who will comprise the group and indicated that that membership may be fluid. Baptist Press has an article on the study group. It is […]
The Invisible People of Mayberry
During the 80s, I lived in a small country town for four years that reminded me of Mayberry, at least when we first arrived. I discerned one major difference during my time there. Recently, during my slow recuperation from surgery, as I rewatched the first three seasons of the Andy Griffith Show on Netflix, I […]
BREAKING NEWS: Data Breach at the IMB
The Biblical Recorder is reporting on a data breach at the IMB. Few details are available. This is no small matter since many of our missionaries serve in high-security areas and their identities are kept secret. Please read the BRNow.org article. If you aren’t subscribing to them, you should be. They are just about the […]
Complementarianism and the Future of the SBC
I resisted the temptation to go for the clickbait title this time. “Should the Women Keep Silent in the SBC?” Complementarianism is a doctrine established in the Baptist Faith and Message and disdained by our culture, even modern Christian culture. After nearly 2000 years of a fairly consistent understanding of the biblical truth about men […]
And the Next President of SWBTS Is…
Sorry for that clickbait title. No, I have no idea who it will be. I do hear a fair bit of scuttlebutt from time to time but the dust is still settling on the Patterson fiasco and it is too early to start naming names. I don’t think the search team has even been formed […]
Blessed Messes
I was in the village of Kaliane in the Casamance, southern Senegal, on Saturday, February 24, and I began to feel horrible. It was an amazing day, actually. We had a couple of gatherings planned with kids, arranged by my translator Alioune. We showed up for the morning session and found about 30 children, most much […]
Unity, Division, the Past, and the Future of the SBC
When we seek unity at the SBC, we often come at it from the wrong perspective. We seek to downplay our differences, as if we all walk hand in hand, one in mind and spirit. We seek to suppress the voices of dissent and keep them from speaking their minds. We demand that those […]