William

Congratulations to Ronnie Floyd on being elected our day-to-day, SBC leader. And congratulations on having a job that has exactly zero power over the 47,000 SBC churches and their often unruly clergy and members. SBC Voices has a leader, Dave Miller (who has a nice article from two days ago about RF) and several others, moi included, who make up a loosely connected team. I think it would be fair to say that I was more positive and optimistic about the SBC's worst kept secret that the rest. May I offer a few suggestions about what we should and shouldn't do as Southern Baptist in regard … [Read more...] about Let’s be optimistic about Ronnie Floyd and the future of the SBC

I think it started with the best of intentions. A preacher I held in great esteem drank deeply from the cup of alliteration. If it was beneficial for him, why not me? Slowly, I began with simple sermonic points (rich, real, relevant) but the thing began to grip me and I spiraled down into secondary alliterative points (the route he chose, the result he gained, the reason he perished) and then, I'm ashamed to admit it, total depravity in the form of double alliteration (His life of luxury, his lament of languor, his lash of lambaste). I'm not proud of spending more time searching for … [Read more...] about Hello. My name is William and I’m an alliteraholic

I love the change. Presume we'll see it a lot of it in Birmingham.           The old one: complex, busy, cluttered. The new one: simple, clean, historic. May not be the most important change on campus but it's a good one.     … [Read more...] about Adam Greenway – bringing REAL change to the Southwestern seal

LifeWay put itself in the news by announcing the closure of all of its stores..so have some more attention, brethren and sistren: Future Plans — The future of LifeWay Worship Resources is more exciting than ever. In 2017, we partnered with the LifeWay Christian Stores Division to better coordinate the development and promotion of church supplies, music, and DVDs in our stores. This partnership has already begun to blossom and will provide more access to biblically sound resources for church and individual customers in LifeWay Christian Stores. We are currently experimenting with some … [Read more...] about Ten things you may or may not have known about LifeWay

The Spring Equinox today at 5:58 pm, Eastern Daylight Time. The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming and the birds are singing...the Doxology, either that or the Sevenfold Amen, except for in Nashville where something about tears and beer have to be worked into every song. The Executive Committee has a guy, the celebrated God's Man, who will be announced March 31st and voted upon two days later at the Dallas-Ft. Worth Grand Hyatt. Plaudits to the EC leadership for not scheduling the vote on April Fool's Day. That shows some insight and careful planning. And, what's it cost to get the 80 … [Read more...] about It’s Springtime in the Southern Baptist Convention

Some unexpected things have already happened. Speculation is rampant, but then, we are SBCers and we always speculate about things. It doesn't cost a thing. Here you go...from the hacking and plodding SBC hinterlands: J. D. Greear can stir the pot, as we have seen. Any more surprises, JD? Here, take this giant Baptist spoon and stir some more, bro. I'll help you. Executive committee leader and other CEO searches. IMB: check. SWBTS: check. NOBTS, LifeWay, and the Executive Committee: not yet. The EC sayeth that they have "God's man" and it's the worst kept secret in SBC history. It might … [Read more...] about Any more surprises in store for SBCers this year?

We clergy love our minister's housing allowance and want to keep it. It's our very own Sacred Clergy Tax Break and the most important item in the tax code that recognizes clergy and gives us favorable treatment under the tax law. Unsurprisingly, some want to clean up the tax code and eliminate the tax break that is given to ministers but not to others. The Freedom From Religion Foundation has challenged this twice. Both times the federal district court ruled in their favor but the federal appeals court overturned the decision. The FFRF, whose co-presidents Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker … [Read more...] about Our housing allowance: safe for now with appeals court ruling