Mark Terry

I serve as the Wednesday evening Bible teacher at our church. We’ve studied Psalms this fall. This past Wednesday, I asked the folks to tell something they are thankful for. One woman said she is thankful to serve as an advocate/counselor for sexual abuse victims. A father told the group he’s thankful to see his children growing in their faith. Both of those impressed me. My little grandson, age four, attends the preschool at First Baptist Church of Keller, Texas. They did a Thanksgiving craft this week, and he said he was thankful for McDonalds. That made me smile, but I can testify that he … [Read more...] about The Great SBC Voices Thank-Off

Hymns played an important part in worship during my formative years. I’ve written here on Voices that my earliest memory of worship is standing beside my mother at the First Baptist Church of Fairfield, Texas, while the congregation sang, “Bringing in the Sheaves.” I thought they sang “bringing in the leaves,” and that seemed strange to me. Why would people bring in leaves? Still, hymns were the staple of congregational worship for several hundred years. Old timers like me grew up singing them, and we miss singing the familiar hymns of yesterday. I teach the old folks’ Sunday school class … [Read more...] about The Great SBC Voices Hymn Survey

Two weeks ago, we published a survey on preaching. One of our commenters, JND, suggested that we post a survey on Sunday School. So, here is your chance to express your opinions about Sunday School. In many denominations Sunday School is just a program for children; however, in the SBC we provide classes for all ages. Chuck Kelly in his book on evangelism in the SBC (How They Did It) posits that evangelism through the Sunday School was a key factor in the growth of the SBC. I certainly agree with that. Sadly, it seems fewer churches emphasize Sunday School these days, and fewer still use … [Read more...] about The SBC Voices Sunday School Survey

SBC Voices exists, in part, to provide a forum for folks to share their opinions. I thought it would be interesting to learn our readers’ opinions about preaching. I’m 75 years old, and I’ve been a Southern Baptist all my life. My father pastored SBC churches. So, I heard his sermons for many years. For about forty years I preached nearly every Sunday, but since I retired from missionary service, I’ve preached much less. In fact, last year I preached just once, and I’ll preach only once this year. That means I’ve transitioned from preaching to listening. For sure, I have opinions about … [Read more...] about The Great SBC Voices Preaching Survey

I teach the Legacy Builders Bible Fellowship Group (think old folks Sunday school class) at our church. Because we never sing a hymn in the worship service, we sing a hymn each week in class. Recently, we sang “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” and that opened floodgates of church memories for me. My earliest memory of church is standing beside my mother at the First Baptist Church of Fairfield, Texas. My father was the pastor, and the year would have been 1954. That memory prompted me to remember other things of the SBC past. Old timers reading this will nod and smile (I hope), and younger … [Read more...] about “Days Gone By” – SBC Memories

At the SBC Annual Meeting, the messengers elected Clint Pressley as the new president. I’m embarrassed to say that I had never heard of him. In fact, six candidates vied for the office, and I only knew two—David Allen and Michael Keahbone. I don’t know if that says more about me (my ignorance) or about the candidates. Last week, I wrote Bart Barber to thank him for serving as our SBC president. He did a good job in a difficult period, and he demonstrated that the pastor of a mid-sized church can serve as president. The common wisdom before was that only a candidate with a big church or … [Read more...] about Varied and Vacuous Observations, Part 4

One purpose of SBC Voices is to provide a forum for our readers to share their opinions. That’s what I’m requesting in this post. For some years I’ve pondered the question: How should we honor our parents as adults? We veterans of Sunday School learned the Ten Commandments, and the fifth states, 12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” (Ex 20:12, ESV) When we teach this, we emphasize that minor children should obey their parents. Put another way, children honor their parents by obeying them. That is the way the … [Read more...] about Honor Your Father and Mother (for Adults)

In Part Two, I included an item about Southwestern Seminary, but I failed to include an important development at the seminary. Dr. Mark McClellan leads the Spanish language program at Southwestern, and it has grown tremendously. This is good for the seminary and great for the SBC. The number of Spanish-speaking folks in the USA is increasing rapidly, so this is important. Mark told me that he and his colleagues are developing a Portuguese program, also, and that will have a big impact overseas. My good friend, Dr. Matt Queen, has resigned as Professor of Evangelism at Southwestern to become … [Read more...] about Varied and Vacuous Observations and Opinions, Part Three

Christa Brown (attorney, abuse victim, advocate for abuse victims, and critic of the SBC Executive Committee) has written two opinion pieces for Baptist News Global about the SBC sex abuse crisis. She wrote in both that the Executive Committee’s efforts, as well as the SBC’s, have been totally futile, a waste of time and money. Now, I’ll grant that the EC’s efforts in regard to addressing the crisis have been ineffectual, at least so far. It always seems like one step forward, two steps back. Still, I disagree with Christa Brown that the whole effort has been a waste. We have seen good come … [Read more...] about Varied and Vacuous Opinions and Observations (Part 2)

Henry Blackaby died on February 10th, following a long illness. I felt sad that he had passed, but his death prompted me to reflect on his influence on me and my family. Of course, Henry Blackaby became famous in the SBC through his devotional workbook, Experiencing God. My wife taught this at the church we pastored many times. I encouraged all our members to take the course. I taught it once at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis. Blackaby’s famous phrase, “watch to see where God is working and join Him,” caught my attention and affected my thinking. Beyond his Experiencing God course, God … [Read more...] about A Personal Tribute to Henry Blackaby