William Thornton

Right before our non-convention comes the release of the SBC Annual Statistical Report. For some years it has been lamentable; thus, my personal descriptor of it as the "annual SBC statistical weepfest." General reaction from denominational leaders usually ranges from despair to depression and calls for SBCers to do better are noised about widely, the thought being if we just worked harder, prayed more, witnessed more, and had more money and programs we would be seeing mid-twentieth century rocket ship numbers. Baptist Press story: Southern Baptist Convention continues statistical decline, … [Read more...] about Here it is. The annual SBC statistical weepfest…and Ronnie Floyd is right

[To be clear, they’re not asking churches for offerings.] All of our entities have suffered. Jobs have been cut and budgets reduced. Financial outlooks have been tempered by the virus crisis. I thought that our International Mission Board was looking at a record Lottie Moon offering prior to the crisis. Surely, a significant reduction is in store now. IMB receives just under 60% of it's annual budget in Lottie Moon offering receipts. A five or ten percent reduction in this would be $7 million to $15 million. Significant sums. The IMB receives about 37% of it's operating revenue from … [Read more...] about IMB is asking for mid-year donations

The short answers are (a) anyone, (b) no one. There is, as all of my informed clergy colleagues know, no such thing as "an SBC" minister. There is no "SBC" ordination. That degree from one of the six SBC seminaries? That expensive sheepskin doesn't formally recategorize the newly erudite brother as anything other than having obtained a degree. (It's a good thing to be an educated pastor, though.) It used to be routine for the annuals of SBC associations to have a page for ordained ministers not serving in a church. This would be anyone a church listed. They could be retired pastors. They … [Read more...] about Who is an approved, certified, qualified, recommended, ordained SBC minister?

LifeWay Research is meddling again with a survey on sermon length. Great work guys. Now it's confirmed that most pew-sitters prefer a sermon of 20-40 minutes. Personally, I have sat in churches and listened to sermons both short and long that robbed me of 20-40 good minutes. That string of jokes, stories, and guffaw-bait probably didn't even qualify for being called a "sermon." Adrian Rogers would preach over forty minutes and it was was too short. I have preached twenty minute sermons that were probably fifteen minutes too long. My informal survey reveals that most pastors are … [Read more...] about Revival may indeed break out…pastors are preaching shorter sermons.

I was informed, breathlessly, that my county had seen a huge jump in virus cases just last week. Are we experiencing an exponential  expansion of the illness here that requires even more stringent measures by the population? No. Seems the National Guard had been asked to test everyone in a large nursing home. About sixty percent of the residents tested positive. Add to that staff who were positive and the single location accounts for about half of the county's entire virus count. In percentages, the county's infection rate is about one-tenth of one percent. It's difficult to arrive at … [Read more...] about COVID, my county, and implications for the next novel virus

You figure it was coming - some guidance, explanation, advice about how to count attendance during this time of cancelled physical services. My church's last in-the-building service was March 15th. Since then we have had some variety of online services each Sunday and two drive-in services. Our plan is to have drive-in services each Sunday this month, except for on Memorial Day weekend, and then have inside services starting in June, the latter if nothing changes with the current situation and governmental orders. Southern Baptists are gonna count. Around three-fourths of them are gonna … [Read more...] about Counting attendance in the age of COVID-19

I wouldn't expect all to admit to it, frankly. This is the strangest of strange occurrences: government guaranteed loans paying the salaries of pastors and other church and church related workers. If you're applying or have received the loan and want to explain your church's thinking, feel free. I doubt that there will be a question on the ACP about it. I've seen some SBCers weigh in against it as a general principle. The only serious warning I've seen on this was this. Let’s assume that 100,000 religious organizations receive federal funding through the CARES Act and that 5,000 of … [Read more...] about So, who’s getting Uncle Sam to pay your clergy salaries?

Our flagship conference center, Ridgecrest, is for sale trustees have decided. Just 21 months ago I wrote on this site What's the reason for the Ridgecrest renaissance?  I've always been relatively close to Ridgecrest while living and serving in South Carolina and Georgia. I would estimate I've stayed there a couple of dozen times. My kids always enjoyed going there ("Indian Day Camp" back then; wonder if they got all politically correct and changed the name?). Ridgecrest saw more attendees that year, 2018, than in a generation. Things were looking up. From the LifeWay Q&A: Unlike … [Read more...] about Let’s have a conversation about Ridgecrest being sold

One might think that our six seminaries are the safest and most secure of all SBC entities. The combined revenue streams of tuition, Cooperative Program, private gifts and other income sources would insulate the schools from disaster. After all, no hurricane would reach Louisville. Now, the pandemic has shut off tuition revenue. Southern seminary announced a staggering $16 million budget reduction - from $53.2 million to $37.2 million. Tuition accounted for close to one-half of Southern's income. The Cooperative Program, around 19 percent. Southeastern has announced that they plan to apply … [Read more...] about Our little SBC world – upside down now.