As the trustees of the Executive Committee prepare to meet this week, discussion has elevated about the responsibility of the trustees to the convention, with words flying around like attorney-client privilege, best practices, executive session, and the fiduciary duties of the Executive Committee. What follows is some research into the historical role of the SBC, […]
About Luke Holmes
In the name of God by OS Hawkins
History is written by the victors, or so I’m told. But it’s not always easy to tell who won. That’s one of the lessons from the from the outstanding new book “In the Name of God: The Colliding Lives, Legends, and Legacies of J. Frank Norris and George W. Truett” by Dr. OS Hawkins. The […]
Should SBC employees be allowed as messengers at the Annual Meeting?
There’s been some discussion lately about the appropriateness of employees of SBC entities serving as messengers to the SBC Meeting. Much of this was sparked by a post on Twitter from Tom Buck. Undeniable fact: If the votes of SBC employees were removed from the vote in Nashville… and only the votes of […]
A History of the Formation and Function of the Executive Committee
The SBC Annual Meeting in 2021 is one that will be remembered in history as an important one for some time. While it’s easy to get lost in the respective highs and lows of the meeting, it’s also important to remember that the actions of the SBC when it gathers can have lasting actions. One […]
Lessons from Birmingham
It’s no secret that the 2021 SBC Meeting in Nashville will have a focus on events that happened at the last meeting in Birmingham. There will (probably) be attempts to turn over Resolution 9, which has caused much discussion in Baptist circles since then. I will make no tries to predict the future, but I […]
History and Notes of Resolutions at the SBC Annual Meeting
It’s no secret that this year at the Southern Baptist Convention is shaping up to be a contentious one, especially when it comes to resolutions. Several have already been released, and more are in the works. Anyone who is a member in good standing can submit a resolution to the SBC meeting, where a committee […]
A Statement, Not A Creed
The 1963 SBC Annual meeting in Kansas City was highly anticipated. At the previous year’s meeting the SBC Executive Committee recommended that a committee be appointed to examine the Baptist Faith and Message. The committee was to be led by the current SBC President Dr. Herschel Hobbs, and made up of state convention presidents, among […]
A Brief History of SBC Presidents
The 2021 Presidential election of the Southern Baptist Convention looks to be one of the most contested in recent history. But I think we all would do well to remember the history of the position, how elections were handled, and why it mattered. The SBC President is the man who represents, in some part, the […]
Fences Aren’t For Sitting
If you travel through the country side of Oklahoma, and prob other places too, there is one thing you can be certain to see. They go by different names depending on where you live. I’ve seen them called stone cribs, corner posts, or the ever descriptive “rock piles.” Every so often at the corner of […]
Baptists You Should Know: EW Perry
It would be understandable if E.W. Perry was nervous as a silence fell over the hushed crowd. He had stood before large congregations of all sizes for most of his life. But never before had someone like him stood before a group like this. The seasoned preacher did what he always did. He opened his […]
Famous Baptist Sermons: Whether We Live or Die WA Criswell
Over the history of the Southern Baptist Convention, there have been many gifted preachers. Those men have been used by God to provide timely and prophetic sermons that have guided, shaped, and corrected the course of individuals, churches, and the SBC. In this series, we will look at some of those sermons. Even though most […]
A brief history of the ERLC
When the SBC was formed in 1845, it started with two main entities, the “Board of Domestic Missions” and the Foreign Mission Board, later to become NAMB and the IMB. Over time the entity list has grown to include 6 seminaries, Guidestone, Lifeway, and the ERLC. Most of these institutions have easily understood purposes, such […]