Southwestern Seminary's recent financial struggles have been in the news and have been a bit of a Rohrshach test for Baptists. To supporters and defenders of Dr. Patterson and the seminary, they are a blip on the radar screen, a hiccup, a bump in the road toward a greater future. To those with less warm and fuzzy feelings toward Dr. Patterson's leadership (mostly, his anti-Calvinist rhetoric and perhaps his old-school ways) they are seen as further evidence that his leadership is causing the school to swirl the bowl. I am absolutely unqualified to figure out what is happening there, but I … [Read more...] about It Ain’t Easy Makin’ Green: The Modern Struggle of Seminary Education
IMB’s Excellent Lottie Moon Christmas Offering Videos
I consider the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions one of the great privileges of being Southern Baptists. My son is a pastor in another denomination (married a girl from that church and left the faith - what can you do?) and I jokingly asked him what they were doing to promote the Lottie Moon offering this year. I cannot imagine Christmas without Lottie. Every year the International Mission Board produces a series of videos to use in promoting their mission work around the world. These videos are especially important in places like Iowa. I believe in the Cooperative … [Read more...] about IMB’s Excellent Lottie Moon Christmas Offering Videos
C’mon, People, Baptists Don’t Do Petitions
A friend said he was approached by a friend of his to sign an anti-NAMB petition that is being circulated by a group seeking to undermine the current leadership there. I am not going to opine on the merits of the petition itself other than to make a few general observations: NAMB funds the new work states to a high degree and it exerts a lot of authority and control. If NAMB doesn't like it, they don't fund it. They work with the states, but in the end, NAMB's hand is on the purse strings. NAMB has developed a reputation in my neck of the woods as being very sensitive to criticism … [Read more...] about C’mon, People, Baptists Don’t Do Petitions
A Point of Curiosity: Is Your Church Doing Things Differently This Week?
Last week, the worst tragedy in American church history (on a physical level, at least) took place in Sutherland Springs. Is your church going to be any different this week? Are you making plans to change your security measures? There has been some chest thumping among some preachers that make you envision men in suits draped with bandoliers, holding an AK-47 in one hand and a Bible in the other. I am wondering what the reality will be today. At my frozen corner of the world we are not doing anything differently...yet. I pointed out to those I have talked to that while last week … [Read more...] about A Point of Curiosity: Is Your Church Doing Things Differently This Week?
Entities, Trustees, Crises, and Trust: Thoughts about the SBC’s Future
We were all stunned a couple of years back when David Platt stood before us and laid out, gruesome detail by gruesome detail, exactly what was going on financially at the IMB. In the previous 5 years, the IMB had overspent by 210 million dollars. Platt did several things right in that moment. He was open and honest about the problem. He did not try to scapegoat or pin blame. He was the new IMB president and it would have been easy for him to throw shade on previous leadership, but he did not do that. He presented a clear path to fix the problem and expressed his determination to do … [Read more...] about Entities, Trustees, Crises, and Trust: Thoughts about the SBC’s Future
And So We Pray: Answering the Anger over Christians’ “Thoughts and Prayers”
The hostility toward Christianity is reaching a boiling point in some circles of our society. Evidently, a large segment of our society is offended and angered by the fact that we pray for one another when tragedy strikes. California representative Ted Lieu walked out of Congress' moment of silence that was honoring the victims of the massacre at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs - a stunt to get attention to promote gun control legislation. When Paul Ryan tweeted a relatively benign blessing it set off a Twitter firestorm. The people of Sutherland Springs need our prayers … [Read more...] about And So We Pray: Answering the Anger over Christians’ “Thoughts and Prayers”
What Do You Say When Words Fail?
An evil man fires on helpless people at a concert in Vegas and we are sickened. A lone wolf rents a truck and mows down helpless people on a bike trail in New York and we are angry. But then a man entered a church - one of ours - in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and opened fire and we have no words. Counts say that 27 people may be dead, among them the 14-year-old daughter of the pastor, Frank Pomeroy. Somehow, that gets me the most. I know it's selfish, but as a pastor, the idea that Pastor Pomeroy lost his daughter strikes a cord in my heart. I search for something to say, something … [Read more...] about What Do You Say When Words Fail?
Time to Take a Stand: Make the Designated Hitter Universal
I was engaged in a Facebook discussion today with two eminent Southern Baptist scholars who said some of the most inane, silly things in defense of the National League's refusal to join the 20th Century (yes, I know it's the 21st Century) and adopt the DH. They were not even persuaded by the fact that David Worley agreed with them - which should have been a warning to them. I think it is high time that we focus on the things that matter in America and take a strong stand here. I'm having a World Series hangover and am not ready to give up baseball until February, so let me stir the pot a … [Read more...] about Time to Take a Stand: Make the Designated Hitter Universal
Baptist in the Spirit, Part 5: The Spirit in the Life of Jesus
Why did Jesus need to be filled with the Spirit? Luke 4 records the temptation of Christ and the beginning of his ministry here on earth. In verses 1-2 we are told, “Then Jesus left the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days to be tempted by the devil.” Then, when the forty days were over, verse 14 tells us how Jesus began his ministry. “Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity.” Jesus was led by the Spirit and empowered by the Spirit from the beginning … [Read more...] about Baptist in the Spirit, Part 5: The Spirit in the Life of Jesus
What Should We Think about Pastor Platt?
David Platt, the President of our International Mission Board, recently became the preaching pastor at the Mclean Bible Church, a megachurch in the DC area. There has been a lot of confusion and misinformation about the whole process, and there many who are troubled by this development. Platt is a polarizing figure. There are some who will support him whatever he does and some who will relentlessly criticize him no matter what. But this is troubling even to many who are otherwise sympathetic to much of what Platt has done at the IMB. I was brought into this controversy months ago by a … [Read more...] about What Should We Think about Pastor Platt?