William Thornton

I came to seminary from a secular job and volunteer positions in my large church with no preaching experience. Soon, I was offered an opportunity to preach in a small town in the Mississippi Delta, the 'Fust' Baptist church thereof. With some effort I cobbled together a sermon of a sort on Isaiah 40, I think, and headed down on the Lord's Day to the church. The church had a nice looking brick structure in the middle of town. A Sunday school class was in progress when I arrived, one of the men of the church teaching a couple of kids on the steps of the pulpit platform. Worship was for … [Read more...] about My first sermon, being overpaid, and a peculiar racial church situation

Morris Chapman, former SBC president and Executive Committee CEO, made a motion last month in Birmingham: A motion by Morris Chapman of Triune Baptist Church in Arrington, Tenn., to request that the Executive Committee amend the SBC's Business and Financial Plan where necessary to strengthen the fiscal accountability of the SBC's entities to the convention. I don't know what he had in mind, although I could make some guesses. No one would know more about the issue of the SBC Executive Committee's Business and Financial plan and the fiscal accountability of SBC entities, or lack thereof, than … [Read more...] about SBC entities should voluntarily, annually disclose CEO compensation

If Dave Miller can bare his soul by reflecting on his ministry I can at least empty my mind on one aspect of my own: I was totally uprepared for how folks move so easily and often among churches. It was my own fault, or at least a lack of preparation caused by never having been involved in an average sized SBC church until I was the pastor of the same. A church leader asked for a meeting with me within days of my arriving on the field at my new pastorate. He was a long time, faithful member of the church, a deacon, an energetic and committed worker in the congregation. He had been thinking … [Read more...] about People change churches easily and often and I was totally unprepared for this

Pictured above are my magnificent gospel beans, heirloom pole beans handed down in my wife's family for generations. These beans made the trek in a wagon down the eastern seaboard and across Georgia and Alabama to northeast Mississippi. The family story is told that in the 19th century one ancestor, a woman, traveled through Indian territory with her wagon, children, and one cow. She was stopped by Indians and they kept the cow but allowed her to continue. In the wagon were seeds for the next crop, including these bean seeds. At least six generations of my wife's family, ones alive during … [Read more...] about The sorry state of SBC evangelism and ye old time gospel beans

My friend and colleague Alan Cross is an expert on immigration and immigration policy. Your humble, happy, semi-retired hacker and plodder SBC pastor is not. But I know what I am seeing and reading. While on a vigorous four mile walk yesterday morning (vigorous to me, approaching my eigth decade, is about 18 minutes per mile, less than that if I schedule a time trial, more than that if I get lazy or go uphill) I was drawn to some hammering and banging of a construction project, the universal magnet for old dudes. I sauntered over to observe. It was a reroofing job on a multi-unit office … [Read more...] about A pastor looks at immigration and immigration policy

The SBC meeting in Birmingham is one week past. In this short time three horrific cases of sexual abuse of children involving the SBC at various levels have come to light. All of these are malevolent and deplorable. The nationally-known reporter for the Houston Chronicle and co-author of the long and depressing series on abuse in SBC churches, Robert Downen, related a conversation in an airport bar (where else?) with an SBCer returning home from the convention in Birmingham. Downen said that the man, an associational worker, attributed a lot of the SBC's problems as "not malevolence, but … [Read more...] about Malevolence, incompetence, and ignorance in the SBC concerning abuse

The group that brought the federal lawsuit against the cash version of the clergy housing allowance has decided not to appeal the unanimous Federal Appeals Court ruling that upheld the thing. They have a clever title to this news: Appeals Court Blesses Housing Allowance. Now's the time to start thinking about next year, brethren and sistren. Max your housing allowance out; that is, take as much of your clergy income in the form of the housing allowance as you can. It's our best tax break. If you own your own home here's what GuideStone says about the maximum: Ministers who own their … [Read more...] about Your housing allowance is safe for the forseeable future

Probably my most enjoyable convention in quite some time, partly because I stayed in the HQ hotel with the SBC heavy hitters. I spent my own money doing so. They surely did not. Good to see Kevin Ezell in the lobby very early in the morning, 5:30-6:00, working for us. The Westin had some very helpful people. They worked out a problem for me: Home run Hey, Westin, your restaurant and coffee shop opens at 6:30 which is 7:30 real (Eastern) time: Whiff. Yeah, that's Johnny Hunt ahead of me walking at about the same pace. Well, we are about the same age. SBCV colleague Todd walked with me … [Read more...] about #SBC19: home runs and whiffs