No one wants to hear your whining for the next four years…not your wife, your kids, your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers, your dog, or your cat. People voted, that’s that. Your daily life likely isn’t going to change one bit. You could gripe full time but how much good would that do the country, […]
Just how easy, or difficult, is it to become an SBC church?
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 […]
Anonymous site calls for SBC transparency
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 […]
An election like no other…or, so we’re told.
Here in the Peach State which is not even one of the swing or battleground states this election is like no other in some ways. We’ve got the candidate from Q-Anon, or that’s what her opponents say. We’ve got the Hezbollah candidate, or at least that’s what a friend from the middle east said when […]
How Alaska Baptists would destroy the Cooperative Program and blame it on NAMB
It’s called The COOPERATIVE Program, not the Cooperative Program CAFETERIA. Necessary background reading (not that anyone actually reads relevant articles): Alaska Baptists vote to withhold CP funds, this is a thorough article by George Schroeder, associate VP at the SBC Executive Committee. If you think Schroeder’s piece is biased then show me how. Quotes from both […]
Lottie, Annie, and the CP: Good news, bad news
The three most important offerings for Southern Baptists are the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions and the Cooperative Program. How are these faring in the age of COVID? The numbers are in. Here’s how we’re doing. Lottie Moon Christmas Offering total exceeds goal at […]
Alaska state convention action: Can the CP survive cafeteria style? [Revised, updated, nuanced]
There is other news of note than the sad saga of LifeWay and President and Mrs. Trump being sick. For a bright, positive example consider our IMB appointing 80 new missionaries, ones that are “fully funded” and supported by our existing revenue stream. More on that later. But about the Alaska state convention and our […]
You want SBC villains?
Then lock and load because all SBC leaders have giant, bright red bullseyes on their back. Sadly, it’s part of our system. I diverge from almost all SBC leaders – the number of which includes entity heads, celeb megapastors, influencers, and others – on a few things but not enough to leave or participate in […]
State conventions and legacy spending; unchecked financial hemorrhaging here in Georgia
The state conventions in the south (and, counting some border states one might take sixteen of these which would account for ninety percent or so of all SBC metrics – churches, members, money, CP giving, mission giving, etc.) have been around for a long time, many preceding the founding of the SBC in 1845. Some […]
“I don’t see how a Christian could vote for…”
Large majorities of various Christian sub-groups (classify by race, by region, and other means) vote either Republican or Democratic. While I understand the presence of an escape hatch to the statement (“I don’t see”), can a pastor effectively minister to a congregation that has mixed political constituencies? I don’t see how. Could some of the […]
About some state conventions claim that NAMB “abandons true collaborative partnership”
Now that statement is a shot across the bow but it isn’t much of a surprise or shock. About the only meaningful change wrought by the Great Conservative Resurgence Report, which blue ribbon GCR committee was chaired by Ronnie Floyd and adopted overwhelmingly (3 to 1 ratio in favor) by the SBC in annual session […]
NAMB’s lengthy lawsuit; be sure and read this National Review article
NAMB, as most SBCers know, has had this long-running lawsuit going. They are being sued by a former state convention head and strident NAMB critic. Here’s a sensible and straightforward article by two attorneys with Becket, a religious liberty specialist law firm. Fifth Circuit to Decide Whether Southern Baptist Minister Can Sue Southern Baptist Ministry […]