SBC Issues

When is the last time someone called you gentle? If you are anything like me, it may have been a while. Most men, a good number of women and most leaders (regardless of gender) are often less than gentle. There is a honor and dignity for being hard, harsh and forceful. There doesn't seem to be a lot of respect for being gentle. Unfortunately, the church has taken a cue from the world on this one, and gentleness goes out the window. There are some overwhelming problems with this tendency. First, I think it's forgotten that gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit.  That means when we are not … [Read more...] about Are You A Teddy Bear?

Jared Moore has written previously on this site of the need for moral self-control.  If I understand him correctly, he rails against (for example) those who would blame women and their attire for causing men to think lusty thoughts.  Mr. Moore argues that personal purity means controlling our actions, urges, thoughts, and desires regardless of the images we see or opportunities we have. I think he is absolutely correct. Personal purity is not saying, "Hey, I'm working hard over here to be good, so could you take your clothes or your movies or your books and go elsewhere?  I really don't … [Read more...] about Even God Walks Away

Saw this over at Denny Burk's site, then followed it to Youtube. Would ESPN intentionally cut away from a Tebow-related discussion because it got too "religious?" I'm guessing this is just a glitch, but it is a very suspiciously-timed one!   … [Read more...] about Did Skip Bayless get Censored for Talking about Tebow’s Faith?

I have been a regular attender at a Southern Baptist church since nine months before I was born. I've been a member of 10 different Southern Baptist churches over the last nearly five decades - and what a turbulent 50 years they have been. I was saved and baptized in February of 1964 at Immanuel Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was a different denominational world that I was baptized into than the one I serve in today. I heard the frustration in my dad's voice a few years ago as he talked about his church search in the new community into which he and mom had moved. "I can't find a … [Read more...] about The Tie That Binds? The Sea-Change in Southern Baptist Culture

If you leave my house and head north on the only highway that runs north out of town (the other way out of town? West) you would take Arkansas Highway 130. Almost any place you intend to go from here, that is the road you want to be on. The first direction you will get is "Go north on 130." However, after a certain length of time, if you continue to follow that first direction, you will drive through a caution sign and plant yourself into the middle of a bean field. If your vehicle is fortunate enough to survive leaving the pavement and making the two-and-a-half foot drop into the field, … [Read more...] about Your logical result is a bean field

In the first chapter of Deuteronomy, we can read Moses’ account of certain aspects of Israelite history.  Specifically, he addresses the situation in which the people were too afraid to enter the land due to the reports of the spies.  In short… Spies went. Spies returned. Spies disagreed on report. The people despaired. God sent them back to the wilderness. The people recanted. The people entered the land. The Amorites rocked. People died. And in verse 45 Moses laid it out: “You came back, sobbing like schoolgirls, licking your wounds, but the Lord totally ignored you and let you … [Read more...] about He’s Not Listening, I Don’t Think…

There is a spot on my stomach—somewhat stretched from too much McDonalds—that is a reminder of my days as an avid baseball player.  I am not certain that it would classify as a scar.  It’s nothing gnarly.  It is not a portrait of a painful injury or anything of the sort.  It is simply a discoloration of the skin that certainly belongs in the scar family but probably as a sissy third cousin. That “thing” on my stomach comes from not one play but a lifetime of aggressive baseball.  It probably originally came from diving for ground balls playing shortstop or second base.  It grew more … [Read more...] about Review of The Sacred Wilderness of Pastoral Ministry

As I grow older, I understand more clearly what nostalgia is all about.  I remember days when life was simpler, when I had “free time” and hobbies; when I read books for fun; when I shot hoops in the driveway and took naps on Sunday afternoons. Life today is complex. There are bills to pay, yards to landscape, tasks to accomplish, posts to post, pressures to endure.  I hope that doesn’t sound like whining. I consider myself normal in this, not unique. We live in an all-out, pedal to the metal, fast-charging world. I don’t know what it was like to be king of Israel, but I imagine it had … [Read more...] about An Undivided Heart

WARNING: Having just declared my intent to steer away from discussions of Calvinism, I'm going back to the subject less that 48 hours later, now that Frank Page has named his Calvinism Committee (or whatever they are calling it). There is a certain irony intended in the title of this post. I have written forcefully about my disdain for the "God's Man" rhetoric that has been employed by search committee chairs. You can read one of my rants here. I may have mellowed a little, but I still agree with what I said two years ago. I think it is a dangerous tactic to label someone "God's Man" to … [Read more...] about Frank Page is “God’s Man” for THIS Moment (and…the Calvinism Committee is here!)