We're done for another year. Let's try some winners and losers for the week. Winners Steve Gaines. He did a very good job presiding and conveyed confidence and humility in the job. The Pastor's Conference. Dave Miller and team conducted the first genuinely grassroots, average church and pastor driven event in my memory. Some said it would be a bomb but they pulled it off with aplomb. Frank Page. Our CEO comes across well and the Executive Committee report was as painless as could be. Southeastern seminary. The two SBC Vice Presidents (Walter Strickland and Jose Abella) and the first … [Read more...] about Winners and losers, #SBC2017
Fear and loathing, fun and freebies at the exhibit hall
I'm a little early, big mistake, since eager exhibit workers have pent up ferocity to inflict on unsuspecting browsers. One church growth type ministry has smiling workers in lab coats, very clinical. "Are you a pastor?" I'm asked. "Sorry," I reply while putting some distance between us, "I'm not dealing with anyone in a lab coat because nothing good can come out of it and a lot of things not so good like needles, pain, bad news, and straight jackets." They weren't giving anything away anyhow. Look, there's a former SBC entity head without an entourage. My how the mighty have … [Read more...] about Fear and loathing, fun and freebies at the exhibit hall
Awe and wonder at #SBCPC17
I have a generational aversion to employing the word "awesome" about anything, so I'll just say that the Pastor's Conference was pretty doggone good. Grass roots, bottom up. No big names. No marquee personalities. Perfect. PC prez Dave Miller, The Man of Vision, was a fountain of dry wit if you don't mind my mixing metaphors. Gotta like the guy for that. He was also the man without rythm. The Gettys' peppiest, clappiest music couldn't even get a random muscle twitch from him. Speaking of music, it was spectacular. Any group with a fiddle, mandolin, and piano is a hit with me. … [Read more...] about Awe and wonder at #SBCPC17
SBC seminary statistics, 2015-2016
If that sleepyhead Southern baptist Rip (Bubba) Van Winkle dozed off around 1980 and was just now rousing himself from his slumber, he would be surprised at the situation of our beloved denomination's six seminaries. Here are a few items from the book of reports this year. Total SBC Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) both funded and unfunded 1. Southern 2294 2. New Orleans. 1309 3. Southeastern. 1278 4. Southwestern. 1249 5. Midwestern. 931 6. Gateway. 490 Southwestern, which used to be the world's largest seminary is now the SBC's fourth … [Read more...] about SBC seminary statistics, 2015-2016
The two most important numbers in SBC financial statistics
Here are the two most important numbers for SBC financial statistics (2015-2016, the latest year available, as reported by Baptist Press): 5.16% Cooperative Program gifts as a percentage of undesignated church offerings, 59.92% Percentage of Cooperative Program gifts kept by the state conventions. CP percentages In spite of as much promotion, giving increase programs, and other methods by which SBC and state convention leaders attempt to induce, encourage, and inspire local churches to increase their giving to the Cooperative Program the average continues to … [Read more...] about The two most important numbers in SBC financial statistics
SBC 2016 stats: Add a chapter to Lamentations
Not really, but to hear some leaders comment on the latest Annual Church Profile report you would think so. Baptisms are down. Membership is down. Average attendance is down. But, the number of churches is up. Giving is up. Calls for self-examination, prayer, more witnessing are issued. Here is a first look, with a wrinkle or two, on the latest SBC statistics. 1. We hate to admit it but biological growth has been a major driver of our numbers. American, Protestant, Baptists aren't much for having a lot of babies anymore. The megachurches of the 50s and 60s are tearing down their … [Read more...] about SBC 2016 stats: Add a chapter to Lamentations
Lottie Moon takes a $12.8 million hit
The final total for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions for 2016 has been released by the IMB: $152,982,560.94. Round it up to $153 million and the 2017 total is a staggering $12.8 million lower than last year's record $165.8 million. Read BP on it here. This is no surprise to the Executive Committee whose monthly reports have given indications of a large drop, nor to the IMB which has been operating on a budget projection of $153.5 million, nor to observers like me who have been watching monthly figures. I notice that no report on the offering actually gives the … [Read more...] about Lottie Moon takes a $12.8 million hit
The definitive, irreverent guide to #SBC17
Here's all you need to know about the Southern Baptist Convention 2017 annual meeting in Phoenix. Adam Blosser has done a good job prepping folks for the meeting but there are a few things left to cover. Here you go... The 2017 SBC app I'm all apped up and it's actually pretty clever and covers the exhibitors, Baptist Press, even 'locate me' if you get lost. Under the 'attendees' section you can find both Bart Barber and myself, twice apiece. We both have doubles just for the meeting. His is because he is in such demand and can double his appearances. I use mine to take flak from … [Read more...] about The definitive, irreverent guide to #SBC17
About that lawsuit against NAMB
I'd guess that most reasonably informed Southern Baptists are aware that our North American Mission Board is being sued by a former state convention executive. Baptist Press reported the suit here and summarized the allegations against NAMB: - NAMB leaders made "false and libelous" statements about McRaney in 2014-15 as NAMB and the BCMD attempted to work out details of a partnership agreement. -- In late 2015, NAMB posted McRaney's photo at the welcome desk of its Alpharetta, Ga., headquarters, communicating implicitly "that he was not to be trusted." The posting, the suit alleges, was … [Read more...] about About that lawsuit against NAMB
Cooperative Program, Great Commission Giving, and giving trends
One of the things I like about our Executive Committee is their straightforward reporting of giving. The current issue of SBC Life, the EC's "Journal of the Southern Baptist Convention" sent to churches and pastors and published online several times annually, has a nice article by Roger S. Oldham, the EC's Vice President for Convention Communications and Relations, on the Cooperative Program: The Cooperative Program, A Three-Legged Stool. The three legs are: the local church, the state conventions, and the Southern Baptist Convention. I'd like to think that all SBC pastors and lay church … [Read more...] about Cooperative Program, Great Commission Giving, and giving trends