Dave Miller

I am glad Bart is on his sabbatical on Mt. Ararat or Disneyworld or wherever, because I may say some things about him I would hate for him to hear. Better to speak behind his back. A few years ago he mentioned needing someone to minister to a UUPG his church had identified next to his UUPG called the Bayot in the Casamance region of Southern Senegal. I was looking for something like this and I said I would go. I hung out with Bart for a week and had a great time. Here's the part I am not sure I have ever told Dr. Barber. I spent much of that week trying to concoct a reasonable excuse … [Read more...] about “You Want Me to Do WHAT?”

I recently visited my dad and mom at their home in Florida and had a great time sitting and talking with them. I am a bad son. When I get time away from the church I tend to visit my grandkids and I haven't been down to Florida in several years. I was trying to plan a trip to Florida in conjunction with the SBC in Birmingham and my deacons sort of chided me that I needed to get down there sooner and see my parents. As I started planning things, I realized that April 28, the Sunday I was planning to be gone, was also my dad's 90th birthday. The years have been tough on dad. I will not be … [Read more...] about A Stark Reminder of Easter’s Victory

I am sitting in the Omaha airport waiting on my first flight of  the day. Will head to Minneapolis then JFK, where I will meet up with a team from Bart's church (Bart remains in the Witness Protection Program). We fly overnight to Dakar then will make connections to Ziguinchor, Senegal before heading out to villages for a week of ministry with UUPGs. If all goes well we return on Thursday the 23rd. We have some posts set and the guys will manage things here. We have some new features.  I asked Tony Jones to post "Prayer for IMB" snippets several times a week and the men from "Small … [Read more...] about Senegal Bound

From our "Tempest in a Teapot" News Division, the SBC narrowly averted disaster today when a minuscule percentage of SBC churches decided to have women address their congregations on Mother's Day. Some Twitter pundits opined that this would cause a chain reaction that would bring an imbalance to the force, align the SBC squarely with egalitarians, cause us to completely abandon any biblical moorings, and embrace women pastors immediately. However, like Y2K and the 12 predictions of Snowmageddon that didn't come to fruition in Sioux City this year, this seems to have been what Uncle Willie … [Read more...] about BREAKING NEWS: SBC Narrowly Survives Mother’s Day

I visited my mom and dad in Florida last week to celebrate the old guy's 90th birthday and as was to be expected, dad and I had some late night chats. We talked about the greatest sports team in the history of sports - the New York Yankees. We talked about family, about grandkids. We talked about old times. More than any other topic, though, we hashed out what is going on in the Southern Baptist Convention. Dad devoted his life to ministry within the SBC. Dad was never a bigwig but his service in the convention made it such that he was widely known by people who were. A graduate of … [Read more...] about “Yeah, It’s Worth It” – Why I Stick with the SBC

John 13:34-35 is one of my favorite verses. “I give you a new command: Rebuke one another. Just as I have rebuked you, you are also to rebuke one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, by how boldly you rebuke heretics.” Judging from social media, that must be how many read what Jesus said. Seldom a day goes by that I don’t get another warning that someone has “denied the gospel and forsaken the truth,” putting the church at risk. Our only hope is to listen to brave "discerners" who identify and call out those false teachers among us. The problem comes when I … [Read more...] about They Will Know You Are My Disciples If You Trash Heretics

The veil of heaven was pulled back for a moment and in Revelation 4, John recounts his vision as glorious worship is directed to the One who is seated on the universe’s throne. Angelic beings gathered around him crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” The Elders of the company of the redeemed encircled the throne and lifted their praise to the Father who was worthy to receive all praise. But as we enter chapter 5, drama arises. The Father holds a scroll in his right hand, a scroll which will reveal his plan for the future of the world; his … [Read more...] about Is He Worthy? A Good Friday Meditation

I coached at Isaac Newton Christian Academy in Cedar Rapids for about 13 years, before I moved to Sioux City, both soccer (we were the dominant program in Eastern Iowa among Christian middle schools) and basketball. I kept track of stats and analyzed them. I still have the files. Numbers and statistics fascinated me. SBC Voices is coming up on a strange confluence of significant statistical milestones. Wordpress has analytics and I monitor them and noticed that several statistical boxes are about to be checked. This is in a time when we have been having a lot of discussions about the future … [Read more...] about Milestones at SBC Voices