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Thoughts on SBC Seminaries (Mark Terry)

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Recently, I’ve been thinking about our Southern Baptist seminaries. The SBC owns six: Southern in Louisville, Southeastern in Wake Forest, NC, New Orleans, Southwestern in Fort Worth, Midwestern in Kansas City, and Gateway (formerly Golden Gate) in Ontario, California. There is a seventh Southern Baptist seminary, Mid-America, in Memphis. Mid-America is thoroughly Southern Baptist, but it is not owned by the SBC, nor does it receive any money from the Cooperative Program. The six seminaries together receive 21 percent of the Cooperative Program budget. That money is divided among the six … [Read more...] about Thoughts on SBC Seminaries (Mark Terry)

When You Get Older…

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When you get older, your hands can no longer open cans or bags or much of anything. When you get older, you spend time sorting your medications into pill caddies. When you get older, it becomes almost impossible to stand up without grunting. When you get older, using closed captions when watching TV becomes increasingly necessary. When you get older, driving at night becomes more of an adventure. When you get older, taking a nap becomes one of life’s greatest joys. When you get older, hopes and dreams become reflections, regrets, and satisfactions. When you get older, the … [Read more...] about When You Get Older…

The SBC EC should stop interrogating churches and get on with work that is fruitful

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This concerns the recent expulsion of Rabbit Creek Baptist church, Anchorage, AK. The church has a female children and families "pastor" but "the position was not stated as a cause of the EC’s action."  Instead the EC noted that "Rabbit Creek Senior Pastor Mark T. Goodman and at least four other Rabbit Creek staff members signed Baptist Women in Ministry’s Open Letter to Baptist Women supporting women in church leadership and asserting that “Jesus did not place any limits on women’s roles.” The female pastor was among those identified and targeted by the zealots who sought to amend SBC … [Read more...] about The SBC EC should stop interrogating churches and get on with work that is fruitful

It’s official! Messengers were monumentally stupid in their sex abuse actions

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The executive summary would go something like this. Messengers approved motions that (1) have had little or no positive effect on making children safer in our 50k or so churches, but (2) have tied the SBC Executive Committee to enormous legal expenses as far as the eye can see. These expenses are not just those needed for defense of the SBC and the SBC  EC but those needed to fulfill the EC's contractual obligation to defend Guidepost Solutions from any lawsuits resulting from their work for the EC. (3) If SBC messengers approve of the EC budget recommendations just made, we will skim … [Read more...] about It’s official! Messengers were monumentally stupid in their sex abuse actions

This Is Not Your Grandfather’s SBC, Part 3 (Mark Terry)

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From Dave - in my advanced senility, I neglected to changed the author designation from my name to Dr. Terry's. My apologies. In this third part I’ll focus on three aspects of SBC life from sixty years ago. Again, these are my memories and experiences. My memory may fail me at times, and your experience might have been different. I should emphasize that I’m not contending that the past was great and the present is terrible. No, some contemporary things are better; but, then again, just because something is old does not mean it’s bad. Some things are just different. Local Church … [Read more...] about This Is Not Your Grandfather’s SBC, Part 3 (Mark Terry)

Why Would a 192 Year-Old Church Join the SBC? (Joe Radosevich)

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In 2024, our church joined the Southern Baptist Convention. Why would a 192-year-old church decide to join the SBC? Here are four reasons why we joined. First, our goal requires help. Our church is healthy by many metrics. We are healthy financially and have a large reserve. We have people from birth to 98 attending in a normal week. We worship, disciple, and do outreach. We give over 10% of our income to missions. We support church planters in 7 countries. If all we cared about was being a healthy church, then the main thing we need from the SBC is good seminaries to train future pastors. … [Read more...] about Why Would a 192 Year-Old Church Join the SBC? (Joe Radosevich)

You should always ask for compensation, not salary.

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SBCers in the pulpits and pews get played in a thousand different ways by those on the payroll. It's a disgrace, a travesty, and a black eye to the Christian ministry. My view on denominational leader transparency hasn't change in decades: Entity heads, perhaps entity executive leadership, should disclose their compensation each year in a manner where ordinary SBCers, the ones who pay the bills, may access it. There is no good reason for the pay of entity heads to be kept secret. There are a world of bad reasons and we see these each time the subject arises. Secrecy is demanded because: … [Read more...] about You should always ask for compensation, not salary.

With a half century of steady decline the Cooperative Program hits it’s centennial

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I suppose there will be all manner of celebrations, somewhere, over the centennial anniversary of our venerable flagship denominational giving scheme, The Cooperative Program. I don't recall seeing much about it but we have about six months to go. Here's the most salient fact about the Cooperative Program: It provides the longest running trend in Southern Baptist life. The CP has been consistently declining as a percentage of church undesignated giving for about half of its life. It is still a huge source of funding for denominational entities, although the sums to distribute have … [Read more...] about With a half century of steady decline the Cooperative Program hits it’s centennial