SBC Issues

(Our favorite Plodder has another insight into the workings of the SBC that he has generously shared with us.) Lost in the highly increased internet SBC talk on a possibility of a potential unnamed name change for the Southern Baptist Convention is another action taken by our Executive Committee. Baptist Press reports on XComm President Frank Page's challenge to churches to give another 1% to the Cooperative Program. The recommendation from the EC's Cooperative Program subcommittee asked executive directors of the 42 Southern Baptist state conventions to "encourage their churches to give … [Read more...] about Frank Page’s One Percent Solution (by William Thornton)

“I can’t stop” The young man in my office was broken by his continuing lapses into the darkness of pornography.  He truly wanted to stop, at least it seemed.  He hated pornography.  But he kept going through seasons of “feast” and famine.  Sometimes he could quit for months at a time.  At other points he was engaging in sexual deviance multiple times per day. Did he have a disease?  Yes, it is quite true that pornography probably had changed his brain structure.  So there really is legitimacy to his saying, “I can’t stop”.  But isn’t the gospel more powerful than brain structure?  And … [Read more...] about Review of “Addiction and Virtue” by Kent Dunnington

You may have noticed that some decisions in church life are less popular than others.  It's easy for people who may not have all the facts to make unfair assumptions about the motivations, strategies and choices being handed down.  At times, church leaders somewhere in the "chain of command" may be called upon to explain a difficult decision to the church as a whole or to one specific group within the Body.  If a reasonable chance for misunderstanding exists, the best way to promote unity in the fellowship is to carefully explain the LOGIC of the decision rather than merely citing the … [Read more...] about The WHY and WHO of Tough Calls

Is the SBC going to remain the SBC?  That question is at issue right now.  Obviously, our president Bryant Wright's appointment of a task force to study the issue has ignited a firestorm in the SBC and especially among us house-coat wearing basement-dwellers.  Our traffic yesterday was incredible as this dispute broke out - we usually only see those kinds of numbers during the Annual Meeting. People are interested in this topic. I thought it might be helpful to list some of the helpful blog posts for those who want to acquaint themselves with this issue.  Obviously, I have published … [Read more...] about Helpful Articles on the SBC Name-Change

(Alan Cross blogs at Downshore Drift) Juliet: O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet. Romeo: [Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this? Juliet: 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, … [Read more...] about The Name Change Won’t Matter Unless We Have a Heart Change (by Alan Cross)

  … [Read more...] about Maybe These Folks Can Advise the Task Force

Probably not. … [Read more...] about Is This What Solomon Had in Mind?

As I have read blogs and comments today, I am again discouraged about the way that some Baptist Bloggers blog. Bryant Wright announced yesterday that he is forming a task force to study the ramifications of a name change.  There are, I believe, some good reasons to change the name.  There are some very good reasons to be careful about jumping into that - legal issues, money, the question of whether it will really work.  Some of the commenters here have raised those issues and I thought they made sense. Why can't we just have a discussion of the merits of the case? Why must some act as … [Read more...] about Why the Overreaction?

I thought that Bryant Wright did a great job leading the SBC last year in Phoenix.  Now, he is at the top of my buddy list again for appointing a task force to study the issue of changing the name of the SBC.  I've been through this debate before and I have made my views clear - that our regional name is an unnecessary hindrance to SBC growth outside of the deep south.  I would love to see the name change happen, but I doubt that it will anytime soon. Bart Barber has written a very different look at this, one that I understand but believe misses several points.  You can read Bart's opinion … [Read more...] about The ??? Baptist Convention: Considering Bryant Wright’s Task Force Recommendation

Recently, I have been blocking off a little more time to work on a book I hope to write on John Newton.  I believe Newton to be a great model of a pastor-theologian that provides a wonderful pattern of effective soul-care and evangelical Calvinism. One particular area that I feel we “Young, Restless, and Reformed” can learn from Newton is in the way he held his Calvinism, and how he debate it—or rather how he did not debate it. In June of 1772 he published a letter On the Doctrines of Election and Final Perseverance (you can read that here).  Shortly thereafter a Methodist preacher by … [Read more...] about Young, Restless, and Newtonian