Guest Blogger

Jeremy Vanatta is the pastor and an elder of Southside Baptist Church in Lebanon, TN.  He holds a PhD in New Testament from Mid-America BTS.  He blogs at The Threshing Floor, where this article originally appeared.   Foundations of Gospel Parenting Parenting is among the most challenging tasks in the world, and it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the weight of responsibility. In hopes of encouraging parents or parents-to-be, I want to write a series of articles on Gospel Parenting beginning with the Foundations for Gospel Parenting. Mission Impossible 1.  Keeping eternity in mind: … [Read more...] about Gospel Parenting, Part 1 (by Jeremy Vanatta)

Jeremy Vanatta is the pastor and an elder of Southside Baptist Church in Lebanon, TN.  He holds a PhD in New Testament from Mid-America BTS.  He blogs at The Threshing Floor, where this article originally appeared. As Paul brings his letter to Titus to a close, he wants to give some instructions on what to do with divisive church members who persistently disrupt the unity in the church with their wild theologies and controversies. Titus 3:10-11—As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is … [Read more...] about Remove the Persistent Agitator (by Jeremy Vanatta)

Joshua Breland is a seminary student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and blogs at JoshuaBreland.com  The Apostle Paul's teaching about love and a clanging cymbal is on the tip of the tongues of many Christians today. That can be good or not so good. Let's look at the chapter and verse. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. - 1 Corinthians 13:1 Paul is beginning a section on how love is a necessity for godly and helpful behavior. Even though Paul might have powerful truth and knowledge, even … [Read more...] about Paul, Clanging Cymbal, and Listening to Others (by Joshua Breland)

The SBC Plodder, William Thornton, provides the answers to his previous quiz.  1, The CP funding program was adopted at the SBC annual meeting in Memphis in 1925. Todd Starnes has a pretty good summary article on the event here. One notes that the matter was heartily adopted. Guess they didn't have the mics stacked with people who were after  a few moments of notoriety. 2. CP promotion is done mostly by state conventions. I'm a gracious grader, so give yourself a correct answer if you said either "a" or "c". The CP is promoted pretty much everywhere in the SBC at every level, by … [Read more...] about Answers to the Simple Cooperative Program Quiz (by William Thornton)

Joel Rainey is the Director of Missions at Mid-Maryland Baptist Association, an adjunct professor at Capital Bible Seminary and blogs at Themelios (Twitter - @joelrainey). This post was originally published at his site. Tonight, I will gather my kids--who will be dressed as Dr. Who, Captain America, and a Disney Princess respectively--and visit a downtown area near our central Maryland home on the only night of the year in which it is culturally appropriate to allow your kids to beg strangers for unhealthy food.  For most in our culture, October 31 is merely that: a fun holiday that … [Read more...] about The Legacy of Truth: Lessons from the Protestant Reformation (by Joel Rainey)

William Thornton is the intrepid SBC Plodder. See how you do on this very simple, embarrassingly easy quiz on the Cooperative Program. I'll make it multiple choice with a few true-false questions so that my SBC colleagues have a good chance of getting answers right by guessing. 1. The Cooperative Program is how many years old? a. 168, it was started when the SBC was founded in 1845. b. 88, it was started during the evolution controversies in 1925. c. 58, it was started during the grand, boom years of SBC growth, 1955. d. 34, it was started when the Conservative Resurgence began in … [Read more...] about A simple Cooperative Program quiz (from William Thornton)

Alan Cross blogs at Downshore Drift, where this article was originally published.  When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 19:33-34) I have written about the need for Immigration Reform in the past. Here are the relevant articles: Should We Declare Amnesty? - Asks how America plans to deal with its illegal immigration problem and puts forward some solutions. … [Read more...] about Why Evangelicals Should Support Immigration Reform (by Alan Cross)

Dr. David W. Manner is the Associate Executive Director for the Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists. He blogs at  http://kncsb.org/blogs/dmanner . You can follow him on Twitter:  @dwmanner.  Our churches are not getting it done. Instead of fulfilling the Great Commission by tapping into the unlimited creativity available from the Creator Himself, we continue trying to reach the culture by offering a mediocre imitation of what that culture already has. We are playing it safe by impersonating the language, structure, dress and music…usually a few notches below in quality or a few … [Read more...] about It’s Time for Our Churches to Cross the Rubicon (by Dr. David W. Manner)

Immanence is mostly forgotten as an attribute of God and a method by which He works in the world. Calvinists and Traditionalists argue over the limits of God’s transcendent acts of grace and the limits of men without such transcendent grace. Both sides, it seems, have a presupposed agreement to frame the debate around a transcendent grace, while the solution sits dust-covered in the theological closet. That solution is found in God’s immanence. God is said to act transcendently when He works in ways that are above natural law and the created order; but He is said to act immanently when He … [Read more...] about Compatibilism: A More Immanent Grace (by Ken Hamrick)

A SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION PASTOR’S PRESENCE AMONG PREACHERS OF LA One Size Does Not Fit All  BY WM. DWIGHT MCKISSIC, SR.   Materialistic; Immoral; Egotistical; Prosperity Preachers; Pulpit Pimps, Soft on Homosexuality; and Celebrity Seekers; are among some of the nicer descriptions tossed about relative to the “Preachers of LA.”   The debut telecast had one million viewers—the second highest ranked cable TV show that aired on that Wednesday evening—which is historically a church mid-week worship night. With an audience of that magnitude, church goers and … [Read more...] about A SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION PASTOR’S PRESENCE AMONG PREACHERS OF LA: BY WM. DWIGHT MCKISSIC, SR.