William

For many reasons it appears so, and has for some time. Check the graph recently compiled by the SBC Executive Committee comparing various congregation types over the 1990-2018 period. You may find this and other data in Ronnie Floyd's recent excellent and informative article: A statistical analysis of growth in SBC congregations by race and ethnicity from 1990-2018.  To wit: Compare anglo growth, around 11 percent over the period, to non-anglo growth (African American + Hispanic + Asian American + Other ethnic) whose growth rate was over 30 percent. Anglo churches still make up … [Read more...] about Does the future growth of the SBC depend on non-anglo congregations?

It's "bombs away" on Pearl Harbor Day in America in the two Georgia senatorial runoff races. I'm being bombed by political mail. To date, I have received a single, lonely Christmas card and a dozen or more giant, colorful postcards about the Republican candidates, David Purdue and Kelly Loeffler. So far the Democrats have AI that determines that I am not to be one on which to waste their postage. I've received not a single Dem mailout. There's no party voter registration in Georgia but the Dems have ways of finding stuff out. Repubs also. "Urgent notice: your absentee ballot needs your … [Read more...] about Report from ground zero in the existential struggle to save America

Here's what ya do: Get the checkbook out. Sit down. Write a big check for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. The 2020 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® goal is $175 million. That number is significant because 2020 marks the 175 th anniversary of Southern Baptists sending workers to the nations. The annual offering makes up almost 60% of the International Mission Board’s revenue and helps to support 3,535 missionaries and their families. I'm not a shoebox kind of guy, even though the church I attend does the boxes. Cold cash, or whatever cyber equivalent you choose, is the way to go. It's … [Read more...] about Lottie Moon! Eschew the shoeboxes. Money puts people on the mission fields.

The news on this is that the state convention for which Randy Adams is CEO, Northwest Baptist Convention (Oregon, Washington, northern Idaho - around 500 churches) had a "virtual participation Annual Meeting" last week. As he describes it in his blog (Virtual participation at the 2020 Northwest Baptist Annual Meeting) Messengers voted remotely on six items "in real-time through an on-line polling system" and the results were announced during the meeting. Participants could "chat" and ask questions that were read and answered. I gather this was like many FaceBook meetings. Adams has … [Read more...] about Why Randy Adams is still wrong about virtual SBC annual meetings and remote voting

...and I’ll raise a toast to that. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. ALASKA chose the worst possible way by trashing the entire concept of the Cooperative Program. How Alaska Baptists would destroy the Cooperative Program and blame it on NAMB, was my article of a month ago. The somber Alaska Baptists actually voted to excise NAMB from the CP. They will keep that money in-state. Bad leadership. Bad decision. Deplorable reaction to NAMB which has spent more per capita in Alaska than any other state. Maybe brains will thaw and that action will be reversed. Until then, Alaska … [Read more...] about State conventions are making opportunity cost decisions about the Cooperative Program…

  ...if you were on Mars...deep underground...in a wire mesh sealed cave...with noise cancelling headphones. The latest "most important election in the history of our country" is over, except for the shouting, recriminations, complaints, demonstrations and the like. In my church yesterday one would have thought last week was a quiet week. There was scant mention of the election because far more important subjects demanded attention: worship  of almighty God, the eternal Gospel, hurting and hungry people. I'm not going to spend the next four years griping and complaining, a … [Read more...] about Last week was a quiet week…

  One of the long running narratives about our Grand Old Convention is that it doesn't take much to become a Southern Baptist Church. That's a false narrative.  Here's what it takes: Local SBC associations have extensive and detailed requirements and processes for churches to join. Here is the web page for my local association in Georgia. There are 1,116 SBC associations. I can offer anecdotal reports for the handful of associations in which I have participated. There are committees involved, examinations of doctrine and practices, a waiting period, and a formal vote for … [Read more...] about Just how easy, or difficult, is it to become an SBC church?

No, not the Babylon Bee but an actual petition site that calls for a "forensic audit of NAMB & Lifeway." Let's ruminate a bit here, first, on the idea of an anonymous site calling for transparency. Who set up the site? Who funded it? Who is behind it? Who wrote the petition? Seems absurd for a secret group to toss out a petition like this calling for, of all things, transparency. Second, the call is not for transparency. It is for an audit. The petition is not just for an ordinary audit or for NAMB and LifeWay to be more open about their spending but a forensic audit. I'm neither CPA … [Read more...] about Anonymous site calls for SBC transparency