Dave Miller

Sometimes I realize how insulated my life has been. I was born into the home of a Southern Baptist preacher and missionary. My grandpa (maternal - Dr. Eugene Pratt) was an SBC pastor, professor at SWBTS, and head of evangelism for the Missouri convention until his death in 1965. I've been attending Southern Baptist churches regularly since 9 months before I was born. I attended an SBC college (as liberal as Donald Trump is crazy) and graduated from Southwestern (after a two-year sojourn at Dallas). Even whilst I attended a non-denominational seminary I was a member of an SBC … [Read more...] about Should a Pastor Look at Giving Records?

I have several BRILLIANT ideas for posts that I conceived in my mind whilst I was in Nashville and on the drive home. However, being an old fa....uh....fogey, I'm too tired to write. One of our readers suggested a forum for you guys to talk politics. Good idea. I've not watched the debates, just a few snippets and clips. I've got it DVRed, but the Yankees were beating the Red Sox and I lacked the mental energy to engage. My impressions. Donald Trump is a moron - how can anyone take him seriously? On Twitter last night he called Megyn Kelly a bimbo. Can you imagine anyone but him getting … [Read more...] about And Then There Were 17….A GOP Debate Forum

Many people have pointed out the different dynamics of the SEND North America conference going on right now in Nashville and the annual meetings of the SBC which occur annually in cities around the USA. SEND had to close registration at somewhere in the neighborhood of 13,500 (I've not heard an actual number) for the two day conference.  The SBC struggles to get to the 5000 mark each year. SEND charges a fairly substantial fee for attending the conference, in additon to the costs of travel and hotel. There is no charge for the Annual Meeting - you just have to get elected a messenger … [Read more...] about SEND NA & SBC Annual Meetings: Why Such a Difference?

(I'm taking notes, not quotes  getting the gist of the message but not the word for word blow by blow!) Told of his church's aggressive church planting strategy.  John 12:20 -25  Greeks came to see Jesus.  Jesus explained the principle of the harvest. His plan was not the growing of one institution, but by seeds dying, being spread and growing in new life.         Reasons to Send 1. Jesus's Promises about the greatness of teh church were always tied to sending.  John 14:12 - Greater works than these will he do Spirit in us is better than … [Read more...] about JD Greear: Sending

I'm at SEND for the first time.  I've heard about it - you can hardly not hear about it. There are well over twice the number of people here in the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville than there were as registered messengers at the SBC Annual Meeting in Columbus. Nearly three times as many. As I understand it, registration topped out at over 13,000 and would have been more but the arena sold out.  It took a shooting war for the SBC to get that many people to gather for an annual meeting and it's been a long time since it's happened. This is a gathering of (mostly) younger Southern … [Read more...] about Getting a Handle on SEND: What’s It All About? 

It usually gets under my skin when I see it. Someone writes about an issue of social injustice in America and instead of engaging the merits of the issue a pro-life Christian simply responds with the abortion-juke (the pro-life iteration of the omnipresent Jesus-juke). "Why are you so upset about this when millions of babies are being aborted every year?" The thing is, you can care about more than one issue. My wife has gotten heavily involved in a ministry dealing with human trafficking issues. But I don't have to choose whether I'm going to be against human trafficking or abortion. I … [Read more...] about I Usually Hate Comparative Outrage Arguments, But….

In 6 months I'll be headed to the Iowa caucuses for our unique first-in-the-nation electoral free-for-all. I have absolutely no idea who I'll support. While Republicans have been disappointing in recent years, I'm not ready to jump the boat and go independent. Voting Democrat isn't an option - for moral reasons. The unthinking support if abortion, the complete rejection of biblical morality and family values. Of course, my party has often given lip service only. Too often the choice seems to be between the craven secularism if the Democrats and the shallow hypocrisy of Republicans. There … [Read more...] about A Political Forum: Who Would You Vote for Today?

I was sitting in church at Drakes Branch Baptist Church in the summer of 2003 or 2004, where we were visiting. I'd pastored there in the 80s and early 90s, and was back visiting old friends. The pastor was preaching a good, biblical message, but my mind was wandering, as it often did, to a problem I was having in Cedar Rapids. I was part of a wonderful citywide fellowship of pastors who had helped me through dark times in my ministry and had co-labored with me in that city. They were my friends and we had deep fellowship in Christ. But I also had some strong theological divergence from many of … [Read more...] about “Brick Walls and Picket Fences” from Rainer Publishing!

Augie Boto of the EC culled these quotes from the Supreme Court decision a week ago. Thought you might enjoy reading through them. The full text can be found here.  From Chief Justice Roberts dissent– “ . . . this Court is not a legislature. Whether same-sex marriage is a good idea should be of no concern to us. Under the Constitution, judges have power to say what the law is, not what it should be.” “The fundamental right to marry does not include a right to make a State change its definition of marriage.” “Supporters of same-sex marriage have achieved considerable success … [Read more...] about Excerpts from the dissents in the Supreme Court’s Same-Sex Marriage Decision June 26, 2015