Dave Miller

By a vote of 68-1, The Executive Committee has elected Ronnie Floyd as its next president. Check Baptist Press for more details.   Ronnie's response on Twitter: .@ronniefloyd: 'We asked the Lord for a declarative showing ... Based on your call, I will be, this coming Sunday, resigning from' Cross Church 'and immediately taking the role of president-elect' of the EC. #sbcec19 … [Read more...] about Ronnie Floyd Has Been Elected EC President

Tomorrow, Ronnie Floyd will be elected as the next president of the SBC's Executive Committee. I am told that there will likely be little opposition to his nomination and that a unanimous vote is a possibility. I am not aware of any significant organized opposition to his election. If you read SBC Voices, you are probably aware that I have not been a strong supporter of Ronnie's candidacy. I had hoped that they would choose someone else. When I heard that they were focused on Ronnie, back in January, I wrote an article, "The Man We Need in Nashville" which explained some of my concerns … [Read more...] about When You Don’t Get Your Way

In the worst kept secret in SBC history, Ronnie Floyd will be recommended to the EC as president this week. In this video, shared with his church, he not only announces this, but also gives a pretty good summary of the work of the EC president. I communicated with Ronnie earlier this week that he had my prayers as he undertook this job. While nothing is ever a sure thing, I believe his nomination will not receive much if any opposition at the EC. The Executive Committee is in turmoil right now and needs a strong hand. Pray for Dr. Floyd as he undertakes this task.   … [Read more...] about Breaking News: Ronnie Floyd is the EC Presidential Candidate

The SBC is in an unprecedented time of transition and turmoil. We are about the fill the third of the five open entity head positions (the EC votes on its new president next week). Throughout all this turmoil we endure a presidential election last year in which the man who is now our president endured an unprecedented stream of slander and false accusation. Southwestern Seminary had the mother of all bad years. Division over our nation's politics have split our convention that once united politically. Racism continues to be an issue. The #metoo/#churchtoo scandal in the SBC hit the front pages … [Read more...] about Reflections on Renewal in the SBC

How do you change the SBC? It is no canoe that shifts course easily with every stroke of the oar. It is a giant aircraft carrier and changing its course is not easy. Recent history has shown that the appointment of blue ribbon groups such as the Great Commission Task Force and such end up as little more than blips on the radar. Name Change. Blip. Calvinism. Blip. If I didn't believe that blogging and other social media had an impact, I wouldn't continue to engage this way. Our impact is often as negative as it is positive, but we have an impact on public opinion. We shine a light where … [Read more...] about J.D. Greear – Bringing REAL Change to the SBC

I read a tweet this morning by Jonathan Merritt that spoke triumphally of the fact that LifeWay was closing all its stores. He pointed out that while LifeWay was closing, Jen Hatmaker and others whose books LifeWay had stopped selling were still going strong. As is normal in the Twittersphere, there was a piling-on without much attempt to garner facts. The prevailing idea was that LifeWay was going under and to them, it was just desserts for LifeWay's failure to embrace the LGBTQ+ and progressive Christian agenda. Others in the so-called progressive Christian movement have joined in the … [Read more...] about Facts are Our Friends – About LifeWay’s Bad News

We discuss a lot of issues about what has gone wrong in the SBC. When I first started blogging, we were still experiencing minimal growth and we could argue that while we are not exactly in our halcyon days when the SBC was busting at the seams, we were not doing as badly as "those guys." That bubble has burst. We've had nearly a decade of consistently poor statistical reports revealing declines in most of the numbers we care about. We've had systemic divisions over soteriological viewpoints and a host of other issues, scandals that rocked us to the core, and general denominational malaise. I … [Read more...] about The SBC Will NEVER Fix the Problems in the SBC

Southern Baptists stand in agreement that we must demonstrate to the world that sexual abuse is a wicked thing, that we will protect and minister to victims, and that the days of cover-up among us have come to an end. When we leave our Annual Meeting in Birmingham, we want to have spoken with one voice and loudly that we are united on this issue. The exact path to achieve that end is less clear and there is certainly a hefty amount of disagreement as to the best way to achieve that end. Since the Executive Committee meeting a few weeks ago when our president J.D. Greear boldly stood up and … [Read more...] about Constitutional Amendment? Credentials Committee? How Shall We Address Sexual Abuse in the SBC?

Baptists disagree. We started out disagreeing with the Reformers over baptism, over state churches, and over the restriction of religious freedom. In the 70s and 80s, we began to dissent from the leftward drift in our institutions and entities, and a swelling tide of leaders expressed those concerns publicly. Perhaps, with hindsight, we would modulate our tone a bit, but men stood and spoke, saying the direction of the SBC was not what it should be. Dissent from our leaders is at the heart of Baptist life. It still is today. I am a loyal Baptist, a lifelong Southern Baptist and I want our … [Read more...] about Disagreeing Baptists

Last week, I posted an article about the problems at Trinity Baptist in Ashburn, Georgia. In that article, I mentioned that the pastor of that church, Rodney Brown, claimed to have received support from not only the Executive Committee staff, but from the Georgia Convention and from his association. This was upsetting, that Baptist entities would support a church that had a known pedophile openly serving in leadership. The Christian Index published a statement from Thomas Hammond, the new Executive Director of Georgia Baptists, that demonstrated real leadership. He admitted that he had … [Read more...] about Georgia Baptists See Leadership in Action from Thomas Hammond