I’m sitting here in my study contemplating life in the ministry. First of all, I should qualify that statement: by “in the ministry,” I mean the vocational work of being employed by a church for what we call “ministry.” I know that we are all supposed to be ministers, or servants, of one another and […]
An Uneven Banquet
While trying to wrestle with a friend’s question about pastoral ministry, I began thinking along the lines of this illustration. I share it here because it might be useful to you. If it’s not, then feel free to have the same old argument about everything in the comments. Here’s some words to help you with […]
The Post-Convention Hangover
Well, we all kicked around writing reflections on the SBC’s 2018 Annual Meeting (#sbc18 #sbcam18 #southernbaptistconventionalannualmeetingannodominitwothousandeighteen), but that horse has been ridden, ridden to death, revived, ridden again, and then shot. I appreciate everyone’s look back and what they found as highlights and lowlights. I do wish we could be a bit more gracious in […]
What is next? Some ponderings for the SBC as we move forward
Well, in case you missed it, there has been a rather massive shift in the Southern Baptist Convention. I’ll not rehash the waters gone by about the events at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. There’s about four million blog posts, tweets, and Facebook streams about it (give or take a few million). Something I’ve been trying […]
From the Voice that Matters Most: Ephesians 5:1-5
We share our opinions and insights at SBC Voices, but we believe that the Voice that matters most is the one that comes from God’s Word. We present these daily expositional devotions, beginning with a tour of Ephesians called, “Walk Worthy,” in hopes of encouraging our readers to remember to Voice above every voice. Passage: […]
From the Voice that Matters Most: Ephesians 4:7-10
Passage: Ephesians 4:7-10 Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 For it says: When he ascended on high, he took the captives captive; he gave gifts to people. 9 But what does “he ascended” mean except that he[c] also descended to the lower parts of the earth? 10 The one who descended […]
Ephesians 3:5-7 “Gentiles in the Body”
One of the quirks of this effort to highlight the “Voice that Matters Most” here on SBCVoices is that we divided the text based on the CSB translation. The goal was to provide some standardization and for you readers to be able to open a Bible and track with us. Some of the (other) writers […]
From the Voice that Matters Most: Ephesians 1:13-14 – Sealed and Deposited
We share our opinions and insights at SBC Voices, but we believe that the Voice that matters most is the one that comes from God’s Word. We present these daily expositional devotions, beginning with a tour of Ephesians called, “Walk Worthy,” in hopes of encouraging our readers to remember to Voice above every voice. Passage: […]
2018 SBC Voices Bracket Challenge
Good evening! We’ve done this before, so that makes it a tradition. We are Baptists, after all, and tradition is tradition, even if the times they are a-changin’. So, without further ado, here’s the link/information for the 2018 Bracket Challenge and the SBCVoices18 Group: Go to ESPN and sign up for the Tournament Challenge. Search […]
Paint on some stripes
I learned something from the Internet this year, even though it came from a few years ago. The National Air and Space Museum has a post about D-Day where they explained the stripes painted on Allied aircraft during the Normandy Invasion in World War II. (It’s here. I thought about borrowing a picture and linking it, […]
Fruit Trees and Failures
A week from now, I leave for the Southern Baptist Convention. I know many of you who read and interact here will be doing so as well, and if you came here for the reason I first started coming here a decade ago, you might be disappointed. This isn’t going to address the latest and […]
In Defense of Study Bibles: Why Dave Could Be Wrong
So, we have a good discussion going on about the pitfalls of Study Bibles over at this post. I did chime in on the pitfalls that I found, for me, when preaching out of a Study Bible. My first pastorate I had a tendency to chase rabbits, even in the pulpit, and given my restricted prep […]