William Thornton

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?

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

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 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

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?

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

By the grace of God and the tolerance of Dave Miller, I occupy the lofty heights of the SBC Voices Distinguished Chair of SBC Realism. Alas the chair is not endowed but I'm receptive to any offers. Here are a few questions for the SBC hoi polloi: Revitalization Church revitalization has been a buzzword and a watchword since I took my first church in 1982. Do those who are practitioners and contributors to the concept have honest metrics that actually demonstrate the success or failure of revitalization efforts? I'm not accusing anyone of anything, just asking. What is the measure of … [Read more...] about Questions from the Voices Distinguished Chair of SBC Realism

There is nothing profound about this. You have a church and a pulpit. Use it to God's glory. Sometimes events occur that demand your attention from the pulpit. The congregation looks to their pastor and church for a word from God in the midst of such events. I'm reading how every pulpit in the nation should address white nationalism, white privilege, white supremacy, Christian nationalism, Christian supremacy...various phrases that flow on social media with such indignation. Some of these concern me. Some events demand immediacy. Most do not. I'm semi-retired now and don't have a group … [Read more...] about Pastor, be neither bullied nor shamed in your preaching

My first writings here on SBC Voices was a matched pair of articles on Calvinists in the SBC: What I like about Calvinists and Why I'm wary of Calvinists. Those were in the summer of 2011 and, as I recall, each had hundreds of comments. What made me wary then was (1) Calvinists can be, well, rather arrogant, (2) I’ve been around too many churches that have been wrecked by Calvinists, (3) Calvinists have been known to be less than forthcoming with search committees. It looks to me like Calvinists, having grown considerably in stature, acceptance, and influence in the SBC, have moved from … [Read more...] about In the span of 15 months implosions of both Traditionalists and Calvinists

With that succinct sentence a church member issued a severe indictment of the man who was their pastor and preacher. I'd heard it before. The line is a standard complaint of some church members who aren't enamored with their current pastor. I may signify something more serious, that  members have arrived at the conclusion that their pastor is totally inadequate in performing pastoral duties. In the case at hand the member was expressing frustration that the pastor didn't relate well to most of the members, didn't make sufficient effort to build relationships, and, perhaps, performed minimal … [Read more...] about “We don’t have a pastor, just a preacher”