At this moment in our culture, the sin of sexual assault and abuse and our culture’s failure to address it is being brought to light. Each day we hear another story of past abuse as women come forward to tell their story – “it happened to #metoo.” The religious community is not immune to this […]
Nine Shining Moments in the SBC in 2017
‘Tis the season for looking back over the past year and remembering significant moments. I thought I’d review a few of what I thought were great moments in the SBC in 2017. These are my own observations from my limited scope, but were to me evidences of grace in the denomination I call my home. […]
False Criticisms of Large Churches
I attend a smaller SBC church. Up until recently, I was pastoring a smaller membership church. Throughout my time in ministry, though, I’ve found myself being an apologist for the large churches in the areas where I serve. In Northwest Indiana, where I live now, there are a number of large, bible-believing, gospel-preaching churches of […]
Take-Aways from “A Kingdom Conversation on Race…”
Last night in Arlington, TX, Cornerstone Baptist Church hosted a joint worship service with churches of various races/ethnicities in the region and featuring local and national leaders in “A Kingdom Conversation on Race and the Alt-Right.” The service was quickly put together in response to the events in Charlottesville the week before. Serveral influential churches […]
A Kingdom Conversation on Race and the Alt-Right (and You’re invited!)
It’s no secret that Dr. Wm Dwight McKissic is a friend to this blog and to several of us personally here at SBCVoices. The reason for that, I believe, is that we have seen his consistent heart and passion for unity among the people of God and we share that heart. I appreciate my brother […]
Beyond Conservatism and Toward God’s Kingdom
Conservatism is not Christianity. Pursuing the kingdom of God and His righteousness includes both conserving what is good and progressing in what is lacking. When it comes to politics, we religious conservatives are quick to point out that much of what the world calls “progress” is neither good nor pleasing to God and in terms […]
Seven Take-Aways from SBCPC17 (part 1)
If you’ve been following the blog this year, you know about our work on the SBC Pastors’ Conference and the vision that Dave cast for a different focus this year. If you missed it, the entire session is available online at http://live.sbc.net/ondemand.html. I was privileged to serve with the Pastors’ Conference this year and was […]
The Alt-Right resolution – Did we get it right?
A late-night session, calls and tweets to get back in the hall, through creative procedural maneuvers we are able to schedule a vote against the “anti-gospel, alt-right, white supremacy” movement – the hall was packed to overflowing and the vote was made – unanimous! Not a NO-vote to be seen anywhere in the hall. We […]
Why I nominated Shane Hall for the Pastor’s Conference
God brought Shane and I together. Back in 1999, when I was a young church planter, I attended my first SBC annual meeting. While there, I went to the mic and asked some question about insurance for planters, identifying myself, my church, and the town in which I was planting. A few months after the […]
Unity – The Joyful Choice of Being Southern Baptist
Being a Southern Baptist is a joy in my ministry. I am thankful to be a part of this diverse group of Christians that have chosen to partner with one another to do together what we could not do alone. I understand that sometimes we will have differences in the ways we see theological issues, differing […]
A Preview of the Pastors Conference Nomination Form
As you may have heard, the nomination process officially begins on Monday. You can read more about it here and here. For this post, I wanted to give you a sneak preview of the nomination form questions and a brief explanation and rationale for the things we are asking. We are looking forward to your […]
Pastor’s Conference 2017 – an idea for a different kind of conference
I am nominating Dave Miller for pc president this afternoon on the basis of a new idea for 2017. The vote for Pastor’s Conference President will take place shortly after 2:00pm today, at the conclusion of Jack Graham’s message. Here is my nomination speech: My name is Todd Benkert, messenger from East Lake Baptist […]