William Thornton

Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. (NIV) The work of a pastor/elder/overseer is a noble task. Always has been. Is now. Always will be. Better paying and more prestigious clergy and church related tasks may abound. We have coaches, consultants, marketing experts, catalysts, specialists, and strategists. There are church-targeting authors who sell a lot of books, social media church specialists who have huge followings, and ugh, bloggers you have lots of page views. We have layer-upon-layer of denominational employees: CEOs, … [Read more...] about The work of an overseer is still a noble task

Southern Seminary is now "Trusted for Truth". Leaving Southeastern and others to be trusted for, what, something less than truth? Well, Al has that alliteration going for him. Southeastern is the original Great Commission Seminary, probably the better branding. I do hope seminaries stay as "seminaries," seed beds for ministers, pastors, and religious leaders. Or, maybe they've already moved beyond that to being seed beds for consultants, coaches, and impressive titles and degrees. No level of SBC life has had to be more creative and aggressive with titles and labels than associations. I … [Read more...] about No one is better than Southern Baptists at slogans, titles, and labels

Who's to say that we can't have some fun every now and again? Politics is a spectator sport and this is the political Cirque du la Comedie. _________________ Biden: Ol' bloody side-eye himself. Can he run the long race without stumbling? Well, not so far. He's going to overshadow Gerald Ford's reputation for bumbling and stumbling. Booker: I'm not votin' for anyone who's always angry. That went for Ted Cruz and goes the same for Booker. Buttigeg: Dude, stay away from the Bible. It cannot help you. Castro: Pretty smooth guy. VP. Harris: So far a nothingburger. Can't make a … [Read more...] about Politics is such fun: The Great Democratic Debate, Count ’em…10.

...and the poorer schools get no top level recruits; the smaller churches lose solid members. And ain't we got fun, so the song goes. Well, no we ain't got much fun if our team has little chance to win against one of the SEC rich powerhouses and, worse, it's no fun at all for the vast majority of SBC pastors who's average 100-or-so SBC church loses not just prospects but good members to the nearby megachurch. A friend told me with some concern that one of their church's best families were leaving and joining another nearby larger church. It's a conversation I have had repeatedly over the … [Read more...] about In both the SEC and the SBC the rich get richer…

In their latest article on abuse in the SBC the Houston Chronicle and their reporters John Tedesco and Robert Downen do a good job drilling down into details that are seldom touched on by secular reporters. Southern Baptist Convention claims no control over local churches. But new rules, lawsuit may test that argument  [You might have to have an account to read the entire article or access it from a different computer. It's worth reading.] A few quotes and observations: For decades, Southern Baptist lawyers have argued the convention has no oversight over any of the churches that … [Read more...] about Houston Chronicle’s long article on SBC autonomy: Can the SBC maintain it’s non-liability in abuse cases?

With one month to go on the Executive Committee's fiscal year, it's good to see that the national CP receipts are running about one million ahead of the same period last year. That's only about one half of one percent but up is up. This is the national portion of the CP. It remains to be seen if the total CP, including the bulk of revenues which stay with state conventions, will be up for 2019. The same Executive Committee report shows designated giving for the period as being $2.67 million behind last year which means that Lottie and Annie didn't do quite as well this year as in 2018. … [Read more...] about CP slightly up, IMB funding probably down, and what’s all this about immediate baptism?

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…

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…

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

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