William Thornton

More accurately, both my wife and I are getting the first of the two shots today and it has been a strange journey to get to this spot. The way it has worked here in Georgia, the health departments had the vaccines. You had to go sign up, which, seems to me was a waste […]

The hallmark of our country’s governance has always been the peaceful transfer of power. The capitol insurrection was an utter disgrace and the most serious challenge to the transfer of power in our history. (Well, we did have that other insurrection 160 years ago.) Utter disgrace. The more that is know about it the uglier […]

The chances aren’t at absolute zero for this but are pretty close. But, let’s dream and speculate anyhow. ____________ Those who want to take over the SBC will privately gripe and grumble over the delay in their well-laid plans. Those who see themselves as The Lord’s SBC Kingmakers will privately fume, since they believe they […]

It’s a Southern Baptist cliche: “We are a convention of small churches.” We are indeed. The median SBC church will have 70 souls in average weekly worship attendance  this coming Sunday which means that around 25,000 SBC churches have a pastor who looks out when he preaches at no more than a few dozen hearers. […]

I suppose I’m known as a state convention critic, with good reason. All that is for another time. I can recall three times my state convention helped me and my church. Here they are. Volunteer mission trip. Way back when state conventions had formal partnerships with various countries around the world, through IMB and their […]

Although I am retired and not serving as senior pastor of any church now, I was saddened to hear of a family leaving one of my former pastorates for another church nearby. Both the family and the current pastor (my successor in the position in my former church) are my friends. I have had casual […]

…and concluding that my day may indeed be past. Clergy temp staffing agencies. The idea that the person who fills the pulpit or who leads worship of Almighty God, or who teaches students or other church staff can be interchangeable, that is, it doesn’t really matter who the person is, is foreign to me. Filling […]

Democratic turnout was on fire and it looks like both Republican candidates lost here in my home state. Baptist minister Warnock has a lead of over 50k votes. Jewish candidate Ossoff (dude is 33 years old) around 15k. My punditry is not so hot. I thought both Dems would lose. My post-election analysis is on […]

…and more has been spent on the two Georgia U.S. Senate seats than is received for the SBC Cooperative Program (national allocation) and both major mission offerings combined. What I have to show for it is a stack of about 70 pieces for slick mail, all but a couple from Republican and Republican friendly PACS […]

SBC Voices published 265 articles in 2020, about one per weekday. We are a Southern Baptist site so SBC stuff dominates what appears here. COVID-19, politics, and CRT/I sucked almost all the air out of this place last year. While one hopes that the pandemic will recede and that in a non-election year discussions will […]

Double Trouble for the IMB, Mark Terry. The former IMB missionary and seminary professor wrote of our IMB personnel being evacuated from many parts of the  world due to COVID-19. This and the financial impact of the virus made for the “double trouble.” Fortunately, IMB was and is in a solid financial position. Reports for the […]

These are not prioritized: Boy Scouts bankruptcy could leave churches liable in future sex abuse claims. This Baptist Press article from October advised SBC churches “who chartered or have ever hosted a Boy Scouts of America (BSA) troop should seek legal counsel now in case they are named in future sex abuse claims against the […]