...Dallas wasn't on my June 2018 agenda but my wife and daughter wanted to come, so here we are. I'm resigned to being bossed around a bit this week. Good to have a millennial along for Ubering, and tech stuff anyway. The only thing I wanted to do outside of SBC18 is stroll around Dealy Plaza. I was in eighth grade back then. School let out early. Zapruder, sixth floor, grassy knoll...seems like the two crude "X" marks in the roadway don't quite fit the event but I suppose if there were permanent markers they would be stolen. Even 911 didn't have the somber gravity of Kennedy's … [Read more...] about Well, here we go…
An evaluation of Randy Adams’ SBC Recovery Program
Randy Adams is the Executive Director of the Northwest Baptist Convention, an area covering Oregon, Washington, and northern Idaho. He is a supporter of Ken Hemphill and a critic of J.D. Greear or at least of the type of Southern Baptist that JDG represents. Adams classified most SBC churches as "not fully cooperative" about which I had an earlier piece, Who fully supports the Cooperative Program? In that Adams wrote, "Southern Baptists are at a critical crossroad. One road leads to the continuation of decline in CP missions giving and the continuation of the decline of the SBC (that is a … [Read more...] about An evaluation of Randy Adams’ SBC Recovery Program
Try Something Different at #SBC18: 10 Suggestions for Dallas
Go to the Messenger Orientation. It's Monday, June 11 in the Convention Center - Level 2 , Room D221, 4:30-5:30 p.m. Augie Boto, SBC Executive Committee Interim President, led it last year and it was helpful and informative. Since he has additional responsibilities as interim leader of the EC, I don't know if he will do so this year. I have a report on it in which I mislabeled the event as "New" messenger orientation. Even seasoned old salts who have been to a couple of dozen annual meetings will learn something. Don't greet folks this way...with a firm handshake, a 'great to see you … [Read more...] about Try Something Different at #SBC18: 10 Suggestions for Dallas
The Annual SBC Statistical Release Weepfest
Just prior to each year's annual meeting LifeWay releases the previous year's Annual Church Profile statistical summary. Baptist Press reported on it yesterday, ACP: Worship attendance rises, baptisms decline. Last year I had an article on the previous year's data: ACP 2016 Stats: Add a chapter to Lamentations. There's a pattern here and I have the freedom to be more creative in my titles than BP. Here are some highlights and lowlights from the 2017 data: 1. Baptisms are down, and by almost 10 percent. We in the SBC are highly spiritual and prefer not to talk about money. Baptisms are … [Read more...] about The Annual SBC Statistical Release Weepfest
What Does Al Mohler Mean by “Independent, Third-Party Investigation”?
A church, denomination, or Christian ministry must look outside of itself when confronted with a pattern of mishandling such responsibilities, or merely of being charged with such a pattern. We cannot vindicate ourselves. I believe that any public accusation concerning such a pattern requires an independent, third-party investigation. This was Al Mohler, our leading denominational spokesman and SBTS president, in his May 23rd commentary, The Wrath of God Poured Out - The Humiliation of the Southern Baptist Convention. Mohler covers a lot of ground in that piece about clergy abuse … [Read more...] about What Does Al Mohler Mean by “Independent, Third-Party Investigation”?
Can you jettison “DOM” for “AMS” in our Baptist lingo?
Our annual sweatfest, the SBC Annual Meeting, is only a couple of weeks off. With the Greear/Hemphill presidential contest and the Patterson messes having consumed all the pre-convention publicity, you could be forgiven for forgetting that other things will take place. One of these is the Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders (SBCAL) which meets in Dallas a couple of days prior to the annual meeting. This year the SBCAL, as a part of their year-long study A fresh look at the time-honored work of associations within SBC life, will recommend a name change for what most of us … [Read more...] about Can you jettison “DOM” for “AMS” in our Baptist lingo?
The Role of SBC President: Does This Year Matter More?
This is the most highly contested SBC presidential contest since the end of the Conservative Resurgence. I think the 1990 election in New Orleans where Morris Chapman defeated Dan Vestal by 15 percentage points was the last white hot election. We've had contested elections since but none like this year's. One group casts this election as one to turn the convention around, reclaim the convention, etc. Steve Gaines and others call it "pivotal" but doesn't explain how it is so. Maybe it's supposed to be self-evident. Is the SBC president that big of a deal? In the light of current events, … [Read more...] about The Role of SBC President: Does This Year Matter More?
2018 may be the SBC’s annus horribilis
My apologies to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, from whose 1992 speech I borrowed the Latin phrase. The royal family had a number of personal difficulties that year...and Windsor Castle caught fire. Sometimes royalty, even in the SBC, has difficulty. In the Grand Old Southern Baptist Convention we'd like to catch a different kind of fire but it looks like we will have to deal with extensive damage first. To Americanize annus horribilis, try Judith Viorst's 1972 children's book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. All of those descriptors work well. Some of the … [Read more...] about 2018 may be the SBC’s annus horribilis
Some pre-convention voices
Twenty-four days to our Grand Confab, the Annual Meeting in Dallas. Here are some things rumbling around: On B21, megapastor, former SBC president James Merritt endorses J. D. Greear and offers a withering criticism of loud, loutish critics: All of this to say this to that I believe this is the most pivotal SBC presidential election since the conservative resurgence. Make no mistake—we will make a loud and clear statement of just who we are and where we want to go. Will we give in to those who want us to always be “battling Baptists,” who show more passion for what they want to “stop” than … [Read more...] about Some pre-convention voices
So you want to get a resolution passed? Here’s the process…
There's a presumption rolling around among SBCers that the Resolutions Committee has what they want to do in mind before the convention and sloughs off or dismisses all resolutions that get submitted from individual SBCers. Not so. Those individuals who properly submit a resolution according to the provisions of By-Law 20 will be properly considered. Here's what the By-Law says is necessary for a properly submitted resolution: Be submitted to the Committee no earlier than April 15th and no later than 15 days prior to the annual meeting. Be addressed to the Committee on Resolutions … [Read more...] about So you want to get a resolution passed? Here’s the process…