I get, brethren and sistren, that my day has passed. No one preaches sermons with three points and a poem anymore but literature and poetry are a pretty good source of material for sermons. Way back in the day, I had a set of Spurgeon's sermons and would occasionally sally forth into them and, um, borrow some material. I started preaching 89 years after the great man died. The texts remained the same but language and styles had changed. It makes me cringe to run across some of the vocabulary I lifted from those books of sermons. Nothing wrong with old Chuck and our Midwestern seminary puts … [Read more...] about Brother, lay Spurgeon aside and quote Whittier…
Not to belabor Labor Day but…
Best Labor Day sermon: "How to be a Christian at Work" by Adrian Rogers. Four point outline: Don't Brag, Don't Sag, Don't Lag, Don't Nag. Best rhyming, alliterative outline ever. Nah, I don't recall the text. You can start with the title and outline and then find a text, huh? You've got 364 days to come up with something. How much I got paid for my first job: $1.00/hr. Carried a chain for a surveyor, an old guy (so I thought). Spend all day Saturdays and the old guy would wear me out tromping through the woods staking out roads and lots. Highest Paid Southern Baptist employee: Well, … [Read more...] about Not to belabor Labor Day but…
Autonomy is still in the driver’s seat re: SBC clergy/church abuse
The preferred solution to any problem in the SBC, our 174 year-old convention of churches, is to create a high-profile national conference, program, or plan. In a way, that is the best solution available, since of the 47,456 SBC churches counted in the latest statistical report, every single one of them is an autonomous, independent actor, free from the least directive from Nashville. Add to that another 3,759 "church-type missions" and we're over fifty thousand. Every single one of these churches hires their own clergy, supervises their staff, fires their staff, decides what to pay their … [Read more...] about Autonomy is still in the driver’s seat re: SBC clergy/church abuse
Seminaries agree to drop the MDiv degree
Compiled from very high, executive level seminary leaders: "We've agreed to drop the old gold standard ministerial training degree for a host of good reasons. It's a Gospel issue and we wanted to be out in front of the churches and the convention on this." "We've decided to replace the MDiv with a cutting edge, ahead-of-the-curve program of education and training that will give students a degree in consultancy. The market is ripe for all manner of church consultants and we believe we can attract more students to this field than the traditional training for the pastorate. After all, most … [Read more...] about Seminaries agree to drop the MDiv degree
Can the Cooperative Program keep very high giving churches on board?
The average church percentage of undesignated gifts to the Cooperative Program is well under five percent, headed towards four and a half soon. Averages have limited value and don't measure some important things, like the fact that a good number of churches give very high percentages, above ten, more than double the average. These churches, I think, are a dwindling number. The old standard promo for the CP was that members should tithe to their church and the church should tithe to the SBC in CP percentage. Ten percent from your pocket to the church. Ten percent from the church to the … [Read more...] about Can the Cooperative Program keep very high giving churches on board?
Enough posturing and pontificating, take the free online CaringWell training
When men, mostly clergy, start opining on sex abuse in churches, almost always the discussion goes in a straight line to false accusations, presumably because we have all had friends or colleagues who were supposedly falsely accused and they suffered because of it. This flips the matter on it's head and presumes the low single digit percentages of those falsely accused should be our concern rather than the 90+ percent of those who were abused. This may not be the intended result but it looks like the actual result. Happens every time there is a discussion of the subject dominated by men, … [Read more...] about Enough posturing and pontificating, take the free online CaringWell training
Words have meanings, don’t they?
Let's start with "woke." Stumble across this and you can guarantee that you're in a conversation beyond reclamation. Used by hipster wannabe crotchety old codgers blogging in their basements or some Twitter idiot who thinks he's an enfant terrible. I'll update my opinion on this to note that one on the SBCV team has explained how the term seems suitable for him. I respect that but still scratch my head over it. "Loath" and "loathe." Obviously, folks don't know the difference between the two. I loathe the Yankees, any peanut butter dessert, and the use of the words "woke," "season," and … [Read more...] about Words have meanings, don’t they?
I am a greedy capitalist pig, of course, but a Christian one
I knew I would be in for some interesting, and probably fruitless, conversations when a deacon strolled into church one Sunday morning with a hefty book under his arm. It wasn't God's Holy Word, large print with a thick, full grain leather cover. "Ah, Ayn Rand," I said, "that depressing objectivist with a dystopian vision for the future?" Yep. That was the one. "I love you man, but no thanks on us having much of a discussion on her material," I quickly volunteered. And, thanks, but we're going to pass on having a discussion class on her stuff in this church. Give me a little credit … [Read more...] about I am a greedy capitalist pig, of course, but a Christian one
Christian health sharing…or illegal insurance?
Some years ago when I arrived at a new pastorate, I was handed a health care "bill" by the financial secretary. She didn't know what it was and left it to me to figure out. Seems my predecessor made some kind of arrangement with one of the lay members to enroll the member in a Christian health cost sharing deal. Thus, the church was "billed" for a contribution because some anonymous member of the sharing group, not the guy in my church, had surgery and we were supposed to pitch in on the bill. That was my first exposure to a religious health cost sharing group. I ditched the bill. The … [Read more...] about Christian health sharing…or illegal insurance?
The pastor and givers and why the SEC is the leading football conference
No suspense about why the SEC is the leading college football conference: money. The lowest paid head coach in the conference still makes more than $2 million annually. Some SEC assistant coaches make that much. My team, Georgia, will have no less than four assistant coaches making over one million dollars for the year if bonuses are scored. It's old news that any of those four will be paid more than the university's president. The head coach will make many times as much as the president. This, brethren and sistren, is cold, hard capitalism. College football in the SEC fills enormous … [Read more...] about The pastor and givers and why the SEC is the leading football conference