William Thornton

"When will the SBC stop lying about how many members they have?" "The SBC reports 15 million members but no one can find 10 million of these." "SBC membership figures are a total fraud and they should repent." I like a good, indignant gripe as much as any SBC pastor and I haven't been above figuratively slapping my beloved denomination around for the differential between reported membership and average attendance. I'll confess to having said something along the lines of the second quote above: "The SBC reports 15 million members but no one can find 10 million of these." If LifeWay offered a … [Read more...] about The phoney war on SBC membership statistics

I don't think that any member of any church I ever pastored knew what the Executive Committee of the SBC was. The exception to that might have been the guy who pastored SBC churches for some years who paid much closer attention to all the SBC inside baseball talk. Aside from him, the EC might as well have been some group of no-name SBCphiles who look, feel, and sound important but do little that affects my local church. The EC is not even a tiny blip on the average SBC member's radar. 'Obscure' wouldn't be the word for it in regard to the many million SBC members. 'Unknown' would be a better … [Read more...] about The obscure and mysterious SBC Executive Committee

I always had an interest in the people in my congregations who served in World War II. I can only recall a single person who was killed while serving and, thus, is one for whom we have this Memorial Day observance and holiday. Numerous relatives served in that war and many of these were wounded. My father-in-law was only a couple hundred yards from battleship row at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He saw it all but his ship, a destroyer, was not attacked nor hit. He later was only feet from where a Kamikaze hit that same destroyer a few years later. He was wounded but not killed. My … [Read more...] about A Memorial Day weekend story

Just prior to each SBC annual meeting LifeWay releases the compiled statistics for the previous year just in time for anyone who was feeling pretty smug about how the sun never sets on the SBC to be jostled back to reality. Here's the positive-spin Facts and Trends article title: GIVING INCREASES IN 2018 FOR SBC, BAPTISMS, ATTENDANCE CONTINUE DECLINE. Thank God we have a few more dollars to spend on things, many of which don't positively impact folks being saved and baptized. Ronnie Floyd, in his first chance as SBC Executive Committee CEO to react to the statistical report said, “While … [Read more...] about The annual SBC statistical weepfest now available

Some things to keep in mind about this study: The study is about "sexual misconduct" a broad category that includes sexual harrassment, abuse, etc. Surveys did not ask respondents if they were victims "of child sexual abuse or sex assault because of mandatory reporting requirements." While the survey was of Protestant churchgoers, there are more Southern Baptist respondents than random sampling would yield. When weighted, the responses are sufficient (LR says) to be accurate in regard to Southern Baptists.   Some interesting results: High percentages of churchgoers say … [Read more...] about LifeWay researches sexual misconduct

I can't think of any topic that will dominate the SBC Annual Meeting in Birmingham moreso than sex abuse. While the SBC is meeting in Birmingham, sex abuse victim advocates and victims will hold a rally. This is the ForSuchATimeAsThisRally. It will be held outside the convention center on Tuesday, June 11, from 5 to 6:45 pm. Stated goals include: Women should be respected and honored within the SBC. The low view of women has contributed to an abuse-empowering church culture. A clergy abuse database must be established documenting confessed, convicted or credibly accused abusers. … [Read more...] about Sex abuse victim advocates and victims will rally in Birmingham #SBC19

Contributors here at SBC Voices have a couple of articles this week on the SBC and gender. These looked to me to be among the most irenic and amicable approaches possible to an issue that is important to the SBC. Elsewhere, teeth have been set on edge with more vicious and forceful discussions. Brent Hobbs, for whom the title of this article is not written, wrote about Cooperation and Complexity on the Question of Women Preaching. His final paragraph: This is a big, complex question. And it deserves better than the simplistic treatment it’s received recently. As Southern Baptists we are … [Read more...] about Can we avoid an SBC Hobbesian nightmare on gender issues?

STORE CLOSING! EVERYTHING ON SALE! EVERYTHING MUST GO! I hate the street-walking placard-bearers but they must work because even my LifeWay store uses some. When I first moved back to Georgia in 1997, the closest LifeWay was inside the Atlanta perimeter. If I wanted to visit the store I'd have to have a plan for assaulting the gates of highway and traffic hell to get to the store. I'd just as soon stick a shard of glass in my eye as drive inside Atlanta. Then they opened a new store in the Atlanta exurbs, near the largest mall in the state. It was much easier to get to the store and I … [Read more...] about Alas, my closest LifeWay store is indeed closing

It's less than a month to the convention in Birmingham. Southern Baptists will show up by the thousands and mix and mingle with all the construction crews tearing up downtown. One hopes that there is no reverend road rage. These guys are just working stiffs, doing their job. Here's a list of SBC meetings for the past 52 years, courtesy of the Baptist Courier (I added the 2018 figure). This is for registered messengers, not guests, press, or Secret Service personnel. 1967 Miami Beach – 14,794 1968 Houston – 15,071 1969 New Orleans – 16,678 1970 Denver – 13,692 1971 St. Louis – … [Read more...] about What will attendance be at the SBC Annual Meeting in beautiful, if messy, Birmingham?