SBC Issues

Nothing is over more quickly than Christmas. No more carols. No more Christmas sermons. No more trees, poinsettias, and ugly sweaters. The gifts have all been opened and many will be returned today. Kids have already broken some of theirs and are in tears. Leftovers will dominate the culinary offerings for the week. So, although I like Dave Miller's four-sermon Christmas series (and I'd steal and use it if I didn't already a a similar series), let's go back to business as usual here: Best quotes: I’ve been talked down to by male seminary students and held my tongue when I wanted to say, … [Read more...] about Best of the SBC for 2018

In case anyone has wondered, this was my sermon series this December. This was last night's Christmas Eve message, hence shorter than the others. Odd, if I read it straight through, it is about 10 minutes, but I managed to go nearly double that when I preached. I was shooting for 15 went about 17. How does that happen?  If you are as old as I am, you will remember a song by Simon & Garfunkel from their 1966 album, “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme.” It was a beautiful rendition of Silent Night with the evening news from August 3, 1966 played over it - clips about the Richard Speck … [Read more...] about Prince of Peace

There is nothing in God’s creation that more fully reflects the glory of God more than mankind’s intelligence and creativity, something far beyond any other creature’s. We have been able to make advances in technology that boggle our minds, engineer skyscrapers and airplanes and spaceships, fight disease, map DNA, and solve many of this world’s mysteries. We look with wonder at the next 20 years, or 50 years, and imagine what might be possible. But no matter what breakthroughs there are in medicine, in technology, or in any other field of human endeavor, one thing we know, the human mind will … [Read more...] about Everlasting Father

The Christmas we see in our cards, in our songs, and in our nativity sets, is a sanitized, sentimentalized, safe version of what really happened in Bethlehem. It was beautiful and glorious and powerful – Mary and Joseph yielding to God’s plan, angels announcing the Messiah’s birth, a humble setting as God takes on human form, a manger as his crib, and Magi following a star from the East to worship him. But there is a side to this that the Christmas cards do not show, one that we must understand. The story of Jesus is tragic, from his birth to his death. He was despised and rejected of men, … [Read more...] about Mighty God

I am turning my attention away from blogging for the next few days. Here is some homiletical content for our readers to ignore! Deism became an immensely popular idea during the 1700s in Colonial America, an idea held among some of our Founding Fathers. They believed that God made the world but that he stepped back and let it work on its own without intervening or interfering. The God of Deism is disconnected and uninvolved with the affairs of this world. That is not the God we worship. He is active, involved, sovereign, and at work in this world to accomplish his will. Isaiah 9:6 and the … [Read more...] about Wonderful Counselor

The winter solstice is today at 5:23 PM EST. Shortest day of the year. Bah! Humbug! If your church even mentions the word "solstice" that would probably put you on the SBC exclusion list. That would be terribly pagan, but many SBC churches these days like to be on the cutting edge of eccelsiastical practice with things like fog machines and zip lines. Can solstice parties be far behind? From where I am these short days make it easy to get in a sour state and I confess that I look forward to this day. I get a little morose as the days shorten. It's cold. The sun doesn't shine on many … [Read more...] about It’s no mystery why pagans celebrate Winter solstice

I’m old enough (as are Dave Miller and William Thornton), to remember the old Baptist Program magazine. The SBC Executive Committee published it for years, and SBC Life replaced it some years ago. Chevis Horne often wrote for the Baptist Program, and he served for many years as the pastor of the FBC of Martinsville, Virginia. He wrote an article that I’ve pondered over several decades. In that article he posed the question: Should a pastor be more prophetic or more pastoral? In the article he made the point that the more you are one, the harder it is to be the other. In other words, if a … [Read more...] about Prophetic or Pastoral?

Through October and November, we heard a great deal about the Migrant Caravan from Central America and its journey through Mexico. Approximately 7000 migrants came from Honduras all the way to Tijuana, Baja California, to present themselves for asylum at the U.S. Border. Like many, I watched this development with interest to see what would happen and also to see how this would be framed by our leaders and how the church would respond. Last week (December 15), I went to Tijuana to see for myself what was really going on. I joined 150 or so other pastors and church leaders from across America … [Read more...] about The Migrant Caravan, Christmas, and Ministry at the Border

Dr. Clint Bass was dismissed "with cause" from the theology faculty of Southwest Baptist University back in November. According to a petition posted by supporters of Dr. Bass, he will appeal to trustees of the Missouri Baptist college this Friday and ask to be reinstated. According to his dismissal letter and other documents posted along with the petition, it appears that Dr. Bass is supportive of the BF&M2000 and was concerned that his colleagues at Southwest Baptist University were not supportive and were teaching contrary to the statement of faith – in spite of the fact that the … [Read more...] about Theology Professor Dismissed by Southwest Baptist University to Appeal Firing on Friday