One day, I was walking through the woods near a ravine, and I heard someone calling for help. I went over to the ravine, and saw that the rope bridge had fallen in, and that one rope was all that was holding the remains from plummeting into the river. I saw a man desperately clinging to the remains of the bridge, screaming for help. I also noticed that he was wearing a shirt that said "Lottie Moon is my hero!", so I called out to him "Do you need help? It looks difficult, but I could never let a Baptist brother fall into the ravine!" He responded "Certainly! And yes, I am a Southern … [Read more...] about Ravines and Baptists
Why I Ain’t Signing Anything Anymore
Before anyone asks, I live where "Mind your grammar" means "Obey the Ma of your Pa" so leave me alone on the "ain't." :) Back in 2009, I heard of a nifty little effort to get Southern Baptists from across the board to digitally sign on to a call for us to re-examine our denominational structures in an effort to stop the embarrassing problem of more missionaries than we have money. I read through the statements given, took them at face value, and then gladly attached my name to the call for a Great Commission Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention. The following summer, I even voted … [Read more...] about Why I Ain’t Signing Anything Anymore
The Mighty Men
This past week, I spent some time in 2 Samuel 23 to prepare to preach. I spent most of the sermon on the first part of that chapter, looking at David's last words to the people of Israel. The rest of the chapter is the recounting of David's Mighty Men. These men have drawn a decent amount of attention in recent years, as I have seen books about their various exploits and situations. It is not my intention to spend time on each and every one of them here. Instead, I think there's something instructive about the list in general. I. It is right and fitting that we honor the mighty men that … [Read more...] about The Mighty Men
Nashville (and Marietta), We Have a Problem
Yes, I just used the cliched line from Apollo 13. It's a good cliche: it states the situation without sounding panicked. That's where we are right now as the Southern Baptist Convention: we have a problem and we need state the situation without panicking but still looking into it. The problem is this: after we have roasted, toasted, and flamed one another since back in September over a name-change proposal to hopefully break from our past, especially the times we have embarrassingly embraced racism, we just blew that whole plan. All of the hope of moving past that issue originating from our … [Read more...] about Nashville (and Marietta), We Have a Problem
No More Saturdays!
It’s Saturday on the calendar today, and it’s the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter. It is a day that there is very little written of in Scripture. The only thing in the Gospels about Saturday is the request of the chief priests and Pharisees to put a guard at the tomb, Luke references that the women who had accompanied Him rested as was the commandment, and we do not see any information on the Eleven. We see the Crucifixion end with Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking the body and laying Him with about 100 Roman pounds of myrrh and aloe. So they buried Jesus. Mary, Mary, Joanna, … [Read more...] about No More Saturdays!
The Men Who Came to Dinner
With apologies to Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, as well as Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein for mangling the title of their play and movie adaptation. Today is Maundy Thursday on the liturgical calendar of many historically liturgical churches. We Baptists tend to know the name but don't really do a lot with anything on the liturgical calendar except Christmas, Easter, and Good Friday. We remember the day as the day of the Last Supper and the arrest of the Lord Jesus. Let's take a look at that Supper, shall we? Let us consider this Passover, starting with the facts as we know them. It … [Read more...] about The Men Who Came to Dinner
SBC Voices is Changing Its Name
After much contemplation and conspiration with a man typically known only by his initials, a hostile takeover of SBC Voices is being effected at this moment and the blog will hereafter be known not as SBC Voices but as SEC Voices. This change will result in a few visible differences around here: #1. No more space wasted on nonsense like the New York Yankees. #2. All contributors will be expected to change their avatars to represent mascots declaring their allegiance to appropriate organizations. #3. No more discussing Joel Osteen unless he moves from Houston to College … [Read more...] about SBC Voices is Changing Its Name
My, how you’ve changed
Our fearless editor and blogger-in-chief, Dave Miller, has been holding an extended conversation with most of the regular contributors here about blog commenting and posting and how we all interact with each other. I expect we'll see some additional posts from him about the specifics of those conversations in the days to come. It is not my intention right now to short-circuit what he has to say. Or even preview. I want to make a few observations about a blog I read last week and offer some thoughts for your consideration. You see, I sat down and read a blog that was obviously written by … [Read more...] about My, how you’ve changed
“Ego autos anthropos eimi!”
Apologies for the weak transliteration throughout: Wordpress won't do the Greek font my computer will. Yep, the last one was in Latin and this one is in Greek. It actually started as the Facebook status the Greek Professor at Ouachita Baptist University posted yesterday, and I thought it was worth reposting. Now, I'm going to take his thought and grow it a touch. The rest of his statement was this: that this should be the response of any pastor when someone tries to put us on a pedestal:Ego autos anthropos eimi! It's from Acts 10:26 when Peter is with Cornelius. After Cornelius has … [Read more...] about “Ego autos anthropos eimi!”
Commune periculum concordiam parit.
Lest I violate 1 Corinthians 14, the title means this: Common danger brings forth harmony. This was the "use that word in a sentence" example from the Latin Word of the Day email I got a few weeks ago. I would actually consider having this tattooed on someone else, because it's just a great statement. So if you'd volunteer for that, email me. I would like to give you a few thoughts on this phrase, commune periculum concordiam parit.Especially as it applies to the Great Commission Baptists of the Southern Baptist Convention. I. First, let's look at the word harmony. Harmony is a great … [Read more...] about Commune periculum concordiam parit.