SBC Issues

You probably haven't heard, because they've pretty much kept it out of the news, but there was a little interview given by a couple of formal British Royals named Harry and Meghan that created a bit of a stir across the pond. I am not an expert in the royal family and cannot speak to the truthfulness of what Ms. Markle and her husband said about them. Last night, I was involved in the last-minute cancellation of a trip to Senegal and did not watch the interview, but today I saw a clip that struck me deeply. Meghan shared how deeply depressed she was after the intense coverage by the British … [Read more...] about British Royals, Protecting Institutions, and the SBC

Some of the SBC alphabet is under constant internal attack. The ERLC always has critics that are loud, dedicated, tireless, and often senseless. Witness the recent  Executive Committee ERLC Task Force report, generally characterized as a throwaway item, as in 'no action needed,' 'no action taken.' NAMB is a big, red bullseye target. Church planters may feel more valued than ever before in the SBC and church planting may have crossed over from a temp job sought by pastors of limited skills to a cool job that has become increasingly popular among highly motivated, skilled, and bearded … [Read more...] about Our oldest and most important entity, IMB, is doing OK

If you travel through the country side of Oklahoma, and prob other places too, there is one thing you can be certain to see. They go by different names depending on where you live. I've seen them called stone cribs, corner posts, or the ever descriptive "rock piles."  Every so often at the corner of a property there is a pile of rocks, 4 or 5 feet tall, with fencing wrapped around them to hold them together.  Some of these rock corner posts have been there for generations.  It was easier to stack rocks than dig holes in the ground, and provided a good place to pile up the rocks that littered … [Read more...] about Fences Aren’t For Sitting

Ronnie Floyd threw a bunch of tables and graphics at us in his relaunch of the Vision 2025 message to the Executive Committee. You can view the message here. I'm picking a single item, the last one, number five from his list of five strategic actions: Increase annual giving through the Cooperative Program to surpass $500 million by 2025. I would put the graphs here but haven't figured out how to do it. A few items from his address that concern the CP: The CP (total CP, state share and national) has declined from $554 million in 2008 to $467 million in 2020, a decline of … [Read more...] about What about the 40% of SBC churches that gave NOTHING through the Cooperative Program?

The Executive Committee's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Task Force presented their report to the EC today. Task force chairman Mike Stone gave the presentation on behalf of the task force. He gave a brief explanation concerning the creation of the task force. He then went on to describe the work of the task force. We've written about the task force report here. And here. If you haven't read the actual report, I encourage you to do so. The baffling part of the presentation today was that no action was taken by the EC regarding the report. The report includes six recommendations … [Read more...] about No action on ERLC Task Force report

Allow me a moment to defuse that flashy title. Nothing I'm about to write is meant as an attack on Ronnie Floyd. In fact, my hopes would be that if he read this article he'd give it a hearty amen. We also must acknowledge that we are at a watershed moment within the SBC. Who we are as a convention, I believe, will be determined by our response to this cultural moment. And Ronnie Floyd serves in a key position within our convention as CEO of the Executive Committee. Whether through action or inaction, he will play a part in the future of the SBC. And that future for the SBC is a question mark. … [Read more...] about We Don’t Need Ronnie Floyd for Revival

It's been a year since the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee last met in-person. It was at that meeting that the Executive Committee voted to usurp the authority of the duly elected Pastors' Conference President by giving him an ultimatum regarding the program. It was also in February 2020 that the EC took on the role of super trustees of the SBC's ERLC by launching an investigation into the entity. Today the Executive Committee begins its February meeting. Are we in in for more February surprises from the SBC entity that many Southern Baptists believe has gone rogue? You … [Read more...] about Are Southern Baptists in for more Executive Committee surprises?

The EC has been engaged, in the last two or three years, in an attempt to gain and assert a greater authority over other SBC entities than it has ever had. Mike Stone's unfortunate tenure as EC chairman was marked by a consistent power grab. The Executive Committee has historically been a coordinating council with seeks to assist the other entities in their work, but more recently, they have been seeking to become more of a "ruling elder board" for the SBC, interfering in other entities and asserting authority they do not have. Current EC Chairman Rolland Slade is a good and honorable man, … [Read more...] about We’ve Got Trouble, Here in SB City, With a Capital E, and that Rhymes with C…