Because Dave Miller has a conflict of interest and I don’t ((I am retired, stress-free, and can shoot from the blogging hip), I’ll help him out on Pastor Appreciation Month. On our authoritative denominational calendar October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Here are some resources, annotated: 10 Ideas for Pastor Appreciation Month. OK, so LifeWay sells stuff; however, if […]
Almost 10% of SBC churches upped CP percentage by at least one point
The Executive Committee has promoted a “1% Cooperative Program Challenge” over the past few years in which churches were challenged to increase their CP contributions by a percentage point (percentage of undesignated church offerings). A recent Baptist Press article reported that about ten percent of SBC churches had done so over the past two years. The […]
Can state conventions slow the denominational death march?
Amuse yourself with over 28,000 articles on “death of denominations” and then do some sober thinking about the closest thing to a denomination to the average Southern Baptist pastor: his state convention. Our beloved International Mission Board might be the latest to implement severe cuts in employment levels. Their August bombshell declared that 600-800 personnel […]
Funding and the IMB’s future
I was overseas in 2012 or so and happened to be present for a meeting of our missions personnel in one of the high-security countries. The discussion turned to tight funding and what the future looked like. The mission leader asked me, just an ordinary SBC pastor, what the thinking might be the states about such […]
IMB retiring missionaries transition resources
Before Southern Baptists charge off in 47,000 different directions trying to help returning missionaries, here are a few resources ALREADY in place that ought to have priority: Our International Mission Board is closer, more attuned, and in the best position to help. The IMB has a transition team headed by Clyde Meador, IMB’s executive advisor to […]
Lottie Moon: records, deficits, projections and IMB personnel cutbacks
The chart below shows the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal, receipts, and projected income from the offering as used to prepare the IMB budget. Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions (in millions of dollars) Year Goal Received Budgeted Under Budget 2010 175 […]
IMB crisis…more thoughts and opinions
In my humble and plodding view, nothing in recent SBC history deserves as much attention, discussion, and prayer as does our International Mission Board’s announcement that 600-800 missionary positions must be cut. So… 1. The IMB has moved from a high water mark of 5,600 missions personnel to the present 4,800 between 2006 and now, […]
Thoughts on IMB’s new plan
Having read what’s available on this and some of the discussion here are some things to ponder: To me, the IMB has been more open in laying out the facts and figures on this than they have in the past, perhaps because of the severity of the crisis I’d speculate. There are almost 100 trustees who will […]
Short term missions: First, do no harm
A subject that is guaranteed to stir the SBC masses is anything remotely critical of our beloved and ubiquitous practice of short term missions. Why would anyone find reason to criticize that in which the smallest Southern Baptist church participates – a short term, volunteer mission trip to another country, another culture, a location with […]
A little more light for the Cooperative Program
The Cooperative Program is now in its tenth decade of existence. For many Southern Baptists, their memory of it does not include any time when it was a thriving, increasing measure of Southern Baptist denominational health. The general narrative concerning it has been negative in that churches, relentlessly and depressingly, have dropped their CP percentages, […]
Quotes on Religious Liberty from Russell Moore’s new book
Russell Moore, head of our Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, has a new book, Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel. The book was given to attendees at the Send Conference last week, courtesy of our North American Mission Board. Here are a few quotes from his chapter on religious liberty: The church’s witness […]
Send Conference and God’s calling to do missions
This week’s Send North America Conference, the joint North American Mission Board and International Mission Board event in Nashville that was designed to help participants find their place in everyday missions, had, as SBC events always do, a means for folks to respond. Of the 13,607 registered attendees, Baptist Press reports that about 1,100 had […]